hello, i'm nuala mcgovern, this is outside source. the uk relaxes travel rules to allow more foreign visitors. people being vaccinated in europe and america now means that we can move to that next stage which is allowing people to come here and if they are double—vaccinated, avoid having to quarantine. england and scotland have eased their rules in time for august tourist arrivals. there's no change yet, in wales and northern ireland. also in the programme we'll look at lebanon — people there coping with a lack of food, medicines and fuel — in the midst of an economic and political crisis. and at the olympics, host nationjapan sits top of the medals table, with another gold in the mens all—round gymnastics.

the us gymnast simone biles meanwhile pulls out of another event blaming "the twisties" — when gymnasts lose their sense of awareness in the air. let's start in the uk. the government has scrapped quarantine rules for most fully vaccinated travellers arriving from the eu and the us to england. the new rule comes into effect from monday. here's transport secretary, grant shapps. we've already enabled people who have been double—vaccinated here, and we can prove that quite easily with the nhs app, to travel and come back and not need to quarantine, even if they're coming from an amber list country. today, we're expanding that to all of europe, including countries like norway for example, and switzerland outside of the eu, and also

the united states of america, which does of course cover a very large number of people who come to this country, and we'll then look at what to do with people who are vaccinated outside of those areas, once we've got this pilot successfully up and running. up until now, only people who received theirjabs in the uk can avoid quarantine when arriving from amber list countries, except france. here's nick beake in brussels on what the rule change means in europe. it's not simple and people who may have tried to have a trip around europe this summer will have found that as well as the forms and the tests, it's not straightforward. so, i can think of three countries off the top of my head where things become a bit difficult. so at the moment if you are going from the uk to italy, there is a five day quarantine if you're going in that direction. where i'm talking to you from in brussels, obviously in belgium, you can only come to the country if you're a resident here or you've got an essential reason to travel. so, the idea of a quick trip

on the eurostar to bruges, you know, that simply isn't an option at the moment. and also if you look at france, france is on the uk's amber plus list and so even if you are double—jabbed and coming from france to the uk, you will still have to quarantine and it seems from what ministers have said today that that particular element affecting france and people coming from france, that hasn't changed. so although broadly this is a big move when it comes to people arriving in the uk from europe, there are these individual circumstances, different rules for different countries. thanks to nick with that new term amber plus. so that's europe. today's announcement does nothing to help uk travellers who are still almost all banned from entering the us. here's barbara plett usher with the reaction from washington. i expect americans who travel to the uk and who want to travel to the uk will welcome this, but the government won't because they have advised against travel to britain. just last week, the centers for disease control

and the state department put britain back onto a the full four tier advisory status. —— level for tier advisory status. now that is the ranking for places where rates of covid infections are very high. also here in the us this week, the white house announced that it was planning to keep its travel bans in place for the foreseeable future. and that is largely due to the delta variant, its high infectious rate and the fact that it is spreading in the uk. that was the concern about britain but also spreading here in the united states. and so it doesn't look as if that air corridor, which had been under discussion, it's had a working group sincejune, is likely to be agreed anytime soon — not this summer, maybe not before september. some scientists are warning that the move could come with risks attached. and the opposition labour party has this warning. we've got real concerns because there doesn't seem to be a system in place yet

for an international vaccine passport which the government said that they were going to bring forward. each individual us state does things differently. they don't have an nhs that has a vaccine programme like we do with certifications. so, we are really concerned about making sure that actually, new variants do not come into the uk and that we do have a system that identifies where we have variants of covid, where infection is, and that we're able to isolate it. in the past couple of hours scotland has announced that it too will allow fully vaccinated travellers from the us and eu to enter — without quarantine. it's unclear whether northern ireland and wales will also follow suit. here's the welsh first minister mark drakeford earlier. the real thing for us as the welsh government is to understand more of how the uk government will be able to give us confidence that if people say they have been doubly vaccinated when they arrive in the united

kingdom that we are sure that that has taken place, that it has taken place to be start of standards we would expect in our own health service, that the vaccines that have been use that are vaccines that are recognised by our regulatory authorities here in the uk. so there is just quite authorities here in the uk. so there isjust quite a authorities here in the uk. so there is just quite a lot of practical detail that we don't yet have available to us. the plans are a major boost to the aviation and tourism sectors — who have been pushing for a relaxation of travel rules. next, let's get the reaction from the chief executive of heathrow airport. it's the right thing to do, the government needs to show confidence in the vaccination programme to allow people who have been vaccinated to travel freely. there is more that can be done to make it easier for people to travel. in particular, getting rid of the pcr test as the first check that is carried out after you come back to the uk. why not replace that with a much cheaper lateral flow test as we have in our normal lives and only take a pcr test if you test positive

so that the government can do it's genomic sequencing? that would be much more practical and much cheaper for people to make sure that travel doesn'tjust become something for wealthy people but all of us can enjoy it. our global health correspondent, naomi grimley. is this a game changer for travel and tourism to the uk? it certainly feels like a bit of a turning point in this pandemic and interestingly, it was actually welcomed by one of the chief advisers to the government on coronavirus, professorjohn bell of oxford university. regis professor in it —— regents professor of medicine. he was saying when you talk about european and america, your talk the countries using really good vaccines and were coverage is generally quite good. so fully vaccinated people don't pose the same risks. of course as your last

guest hinton, it's another story for many other countries around the world and even some of our bbc colleagues coming back to visit relatives are having to do quarantine in a hotel. that costs money and so this is really a story about rich countries being able to open up more while poor countries remain very limited in their travel options. i remain very limited in their travel 0 tions. ~ , options. i think it will be interesting _ options. i think it will be interesting naomi, - options. i think it will be interesting naomi, we i options. i think it will be . interesting naomi, we were options. i think it will be _ interesting naomi, we were seeing the london heathrow ceo they're looking for a later form the london heathrow ceo they're looking for a laterform of the london heathrow ceo they're looking for a later form of testing shall we say, maybe that will be the next step. but on the whole, are people reacting positively? i suppose government ministers would say we have got to a point in the pandemic where if you don't open travel now, when do you open it? and i think everyone is very conscious that in the next few weeks, we are going to obviously have summer at

the moment, summer breaks but then of course schools will come back. then other respiratory viruses will start to circulate and even though some of the data in the uk has been pretty positive in the last few days, nevertheless there is the sort of feeling that winter could be another ball game altogether again. i think it is really interesting that we are already talking with our colleague barbara about that travel corridor in september opening up from the us side and then get into autumn and winter. you mentioned data and i want to turn to this. there's been an uptick in covid cases in the uk after seven days in decline. people were thrilled about this for the most part. but now there have been over 27,000 cases have been recorded in the past 2a hours. that's over 4,000 more than tuesday. what do we know, if anything about what's behind it and how is it been explained? well we have to have a big caveat

there because day—to—day fluctuations to access. we have known that all along and still be overall the week on week decline remains a positive one can't cases are down 36%. —— it remains a positive one... there are rises and hospitalisations that is slowly not but sadly deaths are still rising. there are 6000 patients in hospital in the uk with covid. this is still a very serious situation. and on top of that in the next few days, i am talking at the end of this week in the beginning of next week, we may well see a difference because that is when the sort of liberation freedom day as was termed by the prime minister when the effects that will be shown and this is things like of mask wearing that has become more optional in britain, some would say that it is falling apart pretty much on public transport at the moment. but also things like

nightclubs opening up too. really interestin: nightclubs opening up too. really interesting naomi, _ nightclubs opening up too. really interesting naomi, we _ nightclubs opening up too. really interesting naomi, we will- nightclubs opening up too. really interesting naomi, we will have l nightclubs opening up too. really | interesting naomi, we will have to checkin interesting naomi, we will have to check in next week. i global health correspondent. —— our global health. to asia now — many countries across the continent are now in the grip of a coronavirus surge. some of them had been at the vanguard of apparent best practice at the start of the pandemic and had been praised for their handling of the first wave. thailand, south korea, malaysia and japan have all reported the highest daily number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic. hospitals in malaysia are overwhelmed, turning away patients and the south korean prime minister has warned that the latest spike in covid infections there shows no sign of abating. there are also grave concerns in countries like indonesia and myanmar, also reporting high number of positive cases and shortages of oxygen. here's our south east asia correspondent, jonathan head on how it got so bad for these nations. there are three factors.

one is simply the new variants. the delta variant has spread much faster than what they were doing with last year. last year, these countries managed to deal with covid through effectively basically very efficient contact tracing. when you have only got may be 40, 50 or 100 cases that most of the day, you can use that method but when you're getting thousands it simply doesn't work and there are too many contacts to trace. another is that their health systems are far more limited in capacity to deal with seriously ill people and then when you get into europe in the united states. the numbers of icu beds are much smaller even in a country like time and with what is regarded as a very good health system, you reach the limits much sooner with the number of cases than you did for example with britain. and the third is the back of vaccines. to be honest many of these countries is fair to say were complacent and thought they had beaten covid and so they did not order vaccines early

enough. now malaysia did and because although malaysia is suffering very badly at the moment and the government has made blunders, it is on track to vaccinate most of its population by the end of the up and other countries in this region are nowhere near that. indonesia are 6%, thailand is 5% about vietnam the poster child of controlling covid last year, less than 1% of the population vaccinated they are rushing to buy vaccines now but then i get any quantities of the less effective chinese ones like scene of act are putting in orders for vaccines that will arrive towards the end of the air force of their attempt to vaccinate their way out of this simply is not moving fast enough to deal with the speed of the delta variant. —— the sinovac vaccinate. japan where the olympics are being held is also experiencing a surge in infections. across the country a new record has been set of 9,000 cases — 3,177 of them are in tokyo. this is despite restrictions being in place in the capital. mariko oi is in tokyo.

remember, that this is the fourth state of emergency that tokyo is under, and with the latest declaration, the number of people out and about hasn't exactly gone down. it's not a strict lockdown. there is no penalty, though, the present state of emergency back in last april, people actually obliged, but by the fourth time, people are ratherfed up, and if you ask people on the street, they say you can't exactly tell us to stay at home when the government forged ahead with the olympics despite the strong public opposition. so this surge is probably inevitable. it's past 8pm now, which is when bars and restaurants are being asked to close, but you can probably see behind me that some of them remain open. we've actually seen staff members out and about telling people that we are open after 8pm, and that's partly because the government has promised to offer them financial support,

but it's taking way too long, according to some reports, more than six months, which is obviously way too slow for smaller businesses, and it's notjust tokyo, the three surrounding provinces are also seeing a spike a new covet cases, so they are now asking the national government to declare a state of emergency as well. —— three surrounding prefectures. interesting to see the amount of people out and about. to australia — where it's been announced that the strictest covid measures will remain in place in sydney and the surrounding area for another four weeks. they were first imposed a month ago. here's our correspondent shaimaa khalil in sydney. this is a lockdown that started at the end ofjune, it was supposed to last two weeks, it was extended to five weeks, and now we know it's going to extend to four more until the end of august, and this is because the pattern of the case numbers just keeps going up. it's persistently high. new south wales recorded its highest number since this outbreak,

177 locally acquired cases, 46 of those were infectious while active in the community. all in all, sydney has recorded its worst outbreak this year with more than 2,500 cases, and yes, these numbers compared to any other country in the world are quite low, but look at them from the australian perspective. this is a country that has isolated itself from the rest of the world by closing its borders. it has very, very strict hotel quarantine rules, and has for the most part, really, controlled the spread of covid—19. as recently as may, life looked like it came back to near normal for most of the country, and itjust shows you how transmissable and challenging the delta variant is, but as opposed to victoria and south australia, two states that have gone in and out of lockdown successfully because they went in early and hard, the criticism for new south wales and sydney in particular where i am is the authorities did not nail it early enough, and when the rules came in, they did not come fast enough. so, a lot more uncertainty

here because, yes, the authorities said that it's going to last until august, but experts say the way things are going, if the cases don't slow down, it could go on until september. interesting, september there again. to the us, where the delta variant is also spreading rapidly — and vaccination rates are low. officials say vaccination rates have fallen to the lowest level since january — 49.1% of the population have had both jabs. the head of the us centers for disease control and prevention said covid is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated. in alabama, state officials report 94% of covid hospital patients and 96% of alabamians who have died of covid since april were not fully vaccinated. in a facebook post an icu doctor in alabama wrote that...

we spoke to dr natasha kathuria, an emergency room doctor in austin, texas about this. here's what she said. every er doctor and icu doctor that's working in an area with an active covid surge in america shares those feelings at that physician. you know, we have patients all the time that they lose that sense of urgency, they don't get the vaccine, and them in they fall critically ill and come to us to save them and protect them, they are desperate at that point, and it's just too late, we of course cannot vaccinate someone when they are actively sick with covid—19. so, we see that scenario happened far too often. we have two big pools of people who are unvaccinated in america. we have got those who believe in these, you know, extremist conspiracies and they are very anti—vaccine, you know, not a lot of logic and their fears about the vaccine and those patients are not the ones

that i'm talking about. they are the patients who can be intubated, recoverfrom the icu and still think this is a hoax. itjust shows how powerful these extremist conspiracies are and how brainwashed some people are. us presidentjoe biden has spoken in pennsylvania in the past few minutes. 50 pennsylvania in the past few minutes. . , pennsylvania in the past few minutes. ., , , ., minutes. so many people, well over 630,000 americans _ minutes. so many people, well over 630,000 americans have _ minutes. so many people, well over 630,000 americans have lost - minutes. so many people, well over 630,000 americans have lost their| 630,000 americans have lost their lives because of covid and the only thing the press want to talk about his covid but i will mention this one thing. we still have a lot of people not vaccinated. the pandemic we have now is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. so please, please, please, please, if you are not vaccinated, protect yourself and your children out there. it's important. your children out there. it's important-— your children out there. it's important. your children out there. it's imortant. , ., ., important. let us turn to the tokyo ol mics important. let us turn to the tokyo olympics nova _

let's turn to tokyo now and the sun has set on day 5 of the olympics with the host nation still on top of the medal tally. japan leads the way with 13 gold. china is one medal behind, with united states in third. great britain has also improved on its best ever start, now with 5 gold medals after a stunning win in the mens 4x200m freestyle relay — the third gold for team gb in the pool, the most at an olympics in more than 100 years. and after clinching a bronze medal in the dressage on her horse gio, team gb�*s equestrian star charlotte dujardin has become the most decorated female british olympian of all time. she now has six medals, including three golds. here'sjudy harvey, chair of team gb�*s olympic selectors for dressage on that achievement. to deal with what we have all had to deal with, with covid, with the difficulty of getting horses over to europe to compete, with brexit, and one thing or another, whether or not the olympics will be on or not, to then have to focus on gio,

and to do that routine, and i think it's the first time it has ever been performed in public, that freestyle routine, it was just an outstanding piece of professionalism and concentration in sport. she truly deserves this. it is fantastic. yesterday we brought you the surprise news that superstar us gymnast simone biles had pulled out of the team final due to her mental health. now, she has decided to withdraw from the all around individual final as well — which is going ahead on thursday. in a statement us gymnastics said... and a reminder of what simone biles said following her withdrawal on tuesday. she said... "i feel the weight of the world." "we're not just athletes. "we're people at the end of the day and sometimes "you just have to step back." so, biles won't compete on thursday to defend her olympics all—around title. but usa gymnastics said biles and the coaching team are still assessing

whether she will compete in the individual event finals next week — she qualified for the finals on all four apparatus. for more on simone biles and her withdrawal, here's cbs correspondent jamie yuccas. simone biles grew up in foster care, her grandparents adopted her and she starts competing. larry nasser sexually abuses her comments as she is a sex assault survivor at this point and that carries a lot of weight through your life, you can be very resigned but when you have layer upon layer but a lot of sport psychologist i think about you can be very resigned but saying i need a break right now shows that she is very strong and being able to step back and say i can't take any more of this. i have had all of this in my wife and so this is a moment i need to stop and pause. —— all of my life. mental health can be an issue for any sports person, with the pressure of personal, team and fan expectations to win.

but in certain high risk sports like gymnastics the threat of serious physical injury if things don't go to plan can add to that. here's wendy hilliard — a former gymnast for the us this article on the bbc news website explains exactly what that means. gymnasts described them as a mental block where you can lose your sense of spatial awareness in the air and spin out of control or find yourself unable to land. and it can happen to any gymnast even if they have done that same manoeuvre for years or evenif that same manoeuvre for years or even if they are one of the greatest of all time like simone biles. and her admitting that has received a lot of support from her fellow gymnasts. this woman who is a former high school gymnast and a writer from the washington post said...

this olympic gold medal gymnasts at the age of 14 in 1996 replied... here's wendy hilliard — a former gymnast for the us national team on that. especially in gymnastics, it can be a very dangerous thing that you are not focus on your movement. any wrong lapse injudgment can result in a serious injury or more. so we have always been aware, athletes have always been aware, athletes have always been aware, athletes have always been aware that the mental part of sports is extremely important. i don't think the general public x director understands that and just see athletes as being able to be strong and take anything. but of course they can do more. people can always sue mark about the most important thing to realise is how critical it is to support and share as much support as you can for athletes. well one person who knows the mental toll of having to compete at the highest level in gymnastics

is amy tinkler — she won the bronze medal for her floor routine at the 2016 games in rio with team gb. but since then, she has stopped competing because of the mental pressures of the sport. she's been speaking to the bbc. i can't ican�*t imagine i can't imagine how difficult it must be for her. i was only 16 years old when i was in rio and the pressure i felt there with sort of no history behind me, she has got the whole weight of the world on her shoulders. every household knows the name simone biles and to have that pressure isjust, it is intense. for more on the rest of the days olympic action, here's my colleague lucy hockings, who's in tokyo. japan's gold rush continues. we have seen this teenager would win in the coveted men's all—rounderjanessa coveted men's all—rounder janessa title, coveted men's all—rounderjanessa title, his second in the tokyo games after helping them to silver in the team event. also strong is this young australian woman picking up a second gold medal and setting a games record and her latest battle

with american katie hideki. she touched home in one minute and 53.5 zero seconds. —— katie ledecky. good evening, summer warmth and sunshine may be in short supply at the moment but one thing we haven't been short of today is rain. drinking downpours and thunderstorms have affected many places and in northern scotland the rain has been heavy and persistent and we still have this met office amber warning and we still have this met office amberwarning in and we still have this met office amber warning in force. with that wet weather continuing on through the evening and into the night and then sinking its way for the southwards as well getting in across northern ireland to the early hours of thursday. showers taking a while to fade in england and wales but most places should be dry by the end of the night compared with some we have had recently, it is going to be relatively cool and fresh. low pressure will still be close by during tomorrow. this low drifting

slowly eastwards. this little area of low pressure racing and from the south west will start to influence the weather as we head towards the end of the day. across northern ireland, scotland and northern england, we can expect a lot of cloud and some epics of rain at times. wales, the mittens east anglia the south—east should be largely dry with sunshine and our area of low pressure approaching from the south—east will bring cloud and rain here by the end of the afternoon. it is going to be quite a windy day and quite a cool one for the time of year as well. top temperatures between 16 and 21 celsius. as this area of low pressure approaches from the south west we will see heavy rain for a time across south—west england getting up in the south wales and running eastwards as we go through the night and for a time, some very strong and gusty winds. up to 40—50 mph or more in some exposed spots, quite unusualfor the mph or more in some exposed spots, quite unusual for the time of year which could cause some disruption. the wet and fairly blustery weather will push eastwards across the

midlands, east anglia, the south—east so or rain for a time here. drier conditions behind some sunny spells, still the potential for one or two showers and temperatures between 17—20. as we head into the weekend, we have low pressure up to the north—east. higher pressure to the south west but neither really taking control of our weather. we are trapped between the two meaning there will still be some showers but not as many as we have had over recent days. a decent amount of dry weather and it will feel cool especially in the north.

hello, i'm nuala mcgovern, this is outside source. the uk relaxes travel reels to allow more foreign visitors.— more foreign visitors. people being vaccinated in _ more foreign visitors. people being vaccinated in europe _ more foreign visitors. people being vaccinated in europe and _ more foreign visitors. people being vaccinated in europe and america l more foreign visitors. people being i vaccinated in europe and america now means that we can move to that next stage which is allowing people to come here, and if they are double vaccinated, avoid having to quarantine.— vaccinated, avoid having to uuarantine. ., ., ., ., quarantine. england, scotland and now whales _ quarantine. england, scotland and now whales have _ quarantine. england, scotland and now whales have eased _ quarantine. england, scotland and now whales have eased their- quarantine. england, scotland and now whales have eased their rules j quarantine. england, scotland and i now whales have eased their rules in time for august tourist arrivals, no change yet in northern ireland. also in the programme... we will take a look at lebanon, people of their coping with a lack of food, medicine and fuel in an economic and political crisis. at the olympics, the host nation sits at the top of the host nation sits at the top of the metals table with another gold

and the men's all—around gymnastics. the united states, some biles, pulls out of another event blaming the testes, when gymnasts lose their sense of awareness in the air. let's turn to lebanon. this once vibrant and prosperous country used to be known as the paris of the middle east. but now it's in the grips of one of the world's worst economic crises with half the population living in abject poverty. medicine, electricity and fuel are all scarce. and the world bank says three issues are to blame: a financial crisis, covid—19 and the port of beirut explosion. we'll take you through them now. we'll start with the currency. the lebanese pound — it's in free fall. in 1997 it was pegged to the dollar at the rate of 1,500 to one, and that remained the case until october 2019. that's the year the country slid into an economic crisis.

the currency lost 90% of its worth on the open market. you can see here the value of the currency over the past 20 years. and it is falling quickly, last month buying one us dollar from a vendor in lebanon would have cost around 15,000 lebanese pounds. now, it's around 20 thousand lebanese pounds. and that's meant that the savings and the salaries of ordinary lebanese are almost worthless. this nurse's salary in beirut was once worth 1100 dollars a month. now it's worth less than 70.

and as we've just heard food is becoming more expensive. for example the average price of wheat flour has soared by 219%. and this graph shows you how food prices have changed over the past five years. 49% of the population is worried about access to food. and there's a major fuel shortage. people wait for hours in queues like this for petrol. and there are blackouts every day — some for up to 22 hours. lebanese media reported that last week the electricity stopped in a building belonging to the foreign ministry. forcing them to stop work. in many neighbourhoods, the public now pay for a back—up generator. run by private firms. we heard from one of the syndicates from the generators and they

warrant... —— warrant. now, much of the blame for this has been placed on the government. there are years, decades of corruption, also mismanagement of funds. the son—in—law of the current president of the lebanon, is here speaking to my colleague.- president of the lebanon, is here speaking to my colleague. which came ten ears speaking to my colleague. which came ten years ago — speaking to my colleague. which came ten years ago to _ speaking to my colleague. which came ten years ago to the _ ten years ago to the government where there was no electricity, where there was no electricity, where there was no electricity, where the country was in total debt and collapse, and we were working to put plans for electricity for water, for oil and gas and to restructure them, but we are a minority, and the government and the parliament and they are the majority. so we where not to barely able to succeed in our plans of reforms. we are facing a hall corrupt class of politicians

who want to deprive the people from their rights and electricity. you are art their rights and electricity. you are part of _ their rights and electricity. you are part of that _ their rights and electricity. you are part of that class. - their rights and electricity. you are part of that class. and i will quote _ are part of that class. and i will quote from the former treasury secretary — quote from the former treasury secretary as well who said that systemic— secretary as well who said that systemic corruption in lebanon's political— systemic corruption in lebanon's political system exemplified by bessie — political system exemplified by bessie l has helped to erode the foundation of an effective government that serves the lebanese people _ government that serves the lebanese people. this lies with you. you can't _ people. this lies with you. you can't blame other people. you wear and government. this can't blame other people. you wear and government.— and government. this corruption by the us secretary _ and government. this corruption by the us secretary of _ and government. this corruption by the us secretary of treasury - and government. this corruption by the us secretary of treasury as - and government. this corruption by the us secretary of treasury as a i the us secretary of treasury as a political one. across the country there is a severe shortage of medicines. they're also subsidised by the central bank and it's fallen behind on its payments. that's because its reserves of foreign currency have been depleted. the central bank promised $50 million in medicine subsidies earlier this month. that's according to the head of the importer�*s syndicate. that covers just over half of the current bills for that period. according to the import syndicate the central bank

owes $600 million in debts to suppliers. and they've gradually stopped importing drugs over the past few months. there are shortages in most essential drugs including those to treat heart disease, cancers and pain medication. here's the impact of that from one doctor in the country's largest public hospital. last week, a woman came, she was pregnant, she had hypertension from the pregnancy, and she lost her baby. because we don't have magnesium. and magnesium costs like two or 3 cents. the world food programme has warned that the crisis has pushed vulnerable families and refugees further into poverty. lebanon has the largest number of refugees per capita in the world. around a quarter of the population, many coming from neighbouring syria. it's estimated that 1.2 million of those are food insecure, but camps such as this one — which was established in beirut for palestinian refugees — is now becoming home for lebanese people who have lost everything.

let's hear from basseem who lost his job as a taxi driver. and this has led to protests around the country. there was a mass protest movement towards the start of the crisis in october 2019. anger at the government and the unrest is not as widespread as it was then but there are regular flare ups for example, this was in march this year — tires being burnt to protest the fuel shortages. the bbc�*sjean mackenzie is in beirut. we just heard some live ammunition. they show how volatile the situation is here. it shows how angry people out. and they show the instability that people in lebanon

are having to live through. here's the bbc�*s gabriel gatehouse on how the government reacted to those protests when the crisis first took hold. the interesting thing about lebanon is that the leaders spend most of their time politically at odds with each other, grappling over cabinet positions, who controls what ministry, etc, but when the system itself is threatened as it was in 201990s ——etc, but when the system itself is threatened as it was in 2019 these protests started and peoples came out united to demand change, the politicians are closed ranks. they put the military and the militias out on the street. and then you may remember this this explosion in august last year in the beirut port. over 200 people died, thousands were injured. large parts of the city were decimated. and they're yet to be rebuilt. you can see the remaining impact of the blast here. the blast has been blamed on thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate which was stored incorrectly in a warehouse. the crisis in lebanon had been fuelled by years of corruption by officials and the government. then the blast exacerbated

the situation. many people in the country saw it as a direct result of the entrenched corruption of the authorities. six days after the blast the government led by this man — prime minister hassan diab — resigned. and it is yet to be replaced. on monday this man — najib mikati — became the third person to be appointed to form a government since the blast. here he is shortly after meeting the president on wednesday. translation: i gave my proposals, president aoun approved most - of them, and he made some remarks which are acceptable. god willing, we will be able to form a government soon. i will not bring in my colleague from beirut. get to happy with us. just showing our beer viewers a little bit of the designated prime minister. he is the richest man in lebanon, a country going through a

severe economic crisis as we were describing. what has the reaction been to him being appointed? there is a lot of cynicism _ been to him being appointed? there is a lot of cynicism about _ been to him being appointed? there is a lot of cynicism about his - is a lot of cynicism about his appointment, given that he is also part of the political class of the establishment. he has been prime minister before more than once. he's also been charged or at least accused by many people of corruption, and also cynicism is widespread in general these days regardless of who his spurn in the next government. these people are in such a difficult situation at the moment that they are holding out for annie, you know, even a tiny shred of hope that something will have been positive to their lives, and at the moment, expectations are really, really low. people, when the

protests erupted were talking about systemic change come about radical change and new economic models. now they are hoping that that tankers will be able to off—load their cargo of he so that we will not reach complete darkness so that hospitals well not to be forced to shut down. that is the level of expectation that people have been forced to reach at the moment. so, and all of this is happening amid this political paralysis and the absence of a government. we have a caretaker government that will not do anything except what it means constitutionally —— deems constitutionally —— deems constitutionally acceptable, and that does not include trying to resolve the issues that are plaguing the country at the moment. so people are not expecting at the moment radical change or anything close to what they were hoping for when the protests erupted back in 2019. what they are looking for right now is

something that will save them from extremely dire scenarios such as hospitals shutting down, such as they are being no electricity whatsoever, notjust state electricity but also private generators going off because of the lack of fuel. it’s generators going off because of the lack of fuel-— lack of fuel. it's really quite something. _ lack of fuel. it's really quite something, so _ lack of fuel. it's really quite something, so if— lack of fuel. it's really quite something, so if the - lack of fuel. it's really quite something, so if the basic | something, so if the basic essentials that you are talking about there. i know france has put forward this framework that he has talked about trying to implement, but it does sound more basic than that. what do you think his biggest challenge will be in the coming days? challenge will be in the coming da s? ~ ., ., challenge will be in the coming da 5? ~ ., ., ., days? well, to form the government, he has to overcome _ days? well, to form the government, he has to overcome many, _ days? well, to form the government, he has to overcome many, many - he has to overcome many, many obstacles. the ones that have plagued his predecessor and trying to form the government where agreeing who is going to name the different ministers, especially the ones in a sensitive cabinet positions such as the ministry of the interior, for example, or the minister ofjustice. these are the

main cabinet positions. also, there is a lot of talk about what will happen to the forensic audit of the central bank and also of ministries, comprehensive forensic products which has been demanded by many. will there be an agreement before hand on what the government policy is going to be about that because mike and other issues as well. simply by saying this will only be a government for but the prime minister to basically manage the elections next year, but he himself has said that he does not want to just do that. he wants to resolve the immediate life he had issues facing the lebanese people. he has also mentioned quite mysteriously external guarantees that he will have some kind of support from outside lebanon until at least dated a very basic minimum required to

kind of may be at least delay the worst possible scenarios until something better comes along. but we don't know exactly what he's talking about so far. don't know exactly what he's talking about so far-— about so far. ok, maybe it will become more _ about so far. ok, maybe it will become more apparent - about so far. ok, maybe it will become more apparent in - about so far. ok, maybe it will become more apparent in the l about so far. ok, maybe it will - become more apparent in the coming days. thank you so much. let's hope that things improve for the people of lebanon. stay with us on outside source, step two,... the world's must title turbine generating green energy goes online in scotland. the british government has set out what it caused chance firm and a pair —— transformational plans and to attack issues like access to housing, disability appointment gap, our correspondent nikki fax reports. for disabled children like florence, getting the right support and funding from government and local authority is crucial, especially when it comes to specialised education. this family had to spend

£15,000 fighting to get the right school for their daughter. it ieiit school for their daughter. it felt so unfair. _ school for their daughter. it felt so unfair. it— school for their daughter. it felt so unfair, it felt _ school for their daughter. it felt so unfair, it felt so _ school for their daughter. it felt | so unfair, it felt so inappropriate to have to fight for something that should be a probation for all kids with special education needs. 11—year—old florence is autistic, epileptic and has global development delay. we epileptic and has global development dela . ~ ., ., ., , delay. we looked at what would be best for her — delay. we looked at what would be best for her and _ delay. we looked at what would be best for her and val _ delay. we looked at what would be best for her and val came - delay. we looked at what would be best for her and val came to - delay. we looked at what would be best for her and val came to the i best for her and val came to the conclusion that a skull with a specialist provision would be much better suited for her. the specialist provision would be much better suited for her.— better suited for her. the family were not happy _ better suited for her. the family were not happy with _ better suited for her. the family were not happy with the - better suited for her. the family l were not happy with the council's franchise of school because they didn't believe vacated for people with more complex needs like their daughter. 50 with more complex needs like their dau:hter. . ., ., ~ daughter. so we decided to take the council to tribunal— daughter. so we decided to take the council to tribunal to _ daughter. so we decided to take the council to tribunal to argue - daughter. so we decided to take the council to tribunal to argue our- council to tribunal to argue our case and we had to find all of our own private reports, and an player solicited to do that is hugely expensive. there are hundreds of families that are locked in battle that counsels because it seems that the first part of call for a council is to say no and make parents fight

for it. figs is to say no and make parents fight for it. �* , is to say no and make parents fight for it. a ., is to say no and make parents fight forit. a ., ., for it. as part of today's strategy, the government _ for it. as part of today's strategy, the government has _ for it. as part of today's strategy, the government has admitted i for it. as part of today's strategy, the government has admitted thej the government has admitted the special educational needs system is failing some disabled children and is spending £300 million trying to improve at. find is spending £300 million trying to improve at— is spending £300 million trying to imrove at. �* _, , ., improve at. and the plans across all departments _ improve at. and the plans across all departments like _ improve at. and the plans across all departments like housing, - improve at. and the plans across all departments like housing, there i improve at. and the plans across all departments like housing, there is. improve at. and the plans across all| departments like housing, there is a commitment to increase the number of accessible homes, implement as mentioned, disabled people are far less likely to have a job, so the government are consulting on ways to make companies be more transparent when it comes to declaring how many disabled people they employ. this is outside source, _ disabled people they employ. this is outside source, site _ —— live from the bbc needs room. england and scotland have a relaxed travel rules allowing visitors from the eu and united states do not quarantine. dozens —— dozens of former british military commanders are calling on the government to allow more

afghan interpreters, who they say are at significant risk of being killed, to resettle in the uk. approximately 3,000 afghan interpreters have worked with the british during operations in the country. in a letter written to prime minister borisjohnson, former military commanders say that too many interpreters have had their applications rejected. this translator, whose identity we're not disclosing, has been turned down for relocation four times. here's one of the officials who signed the letter to the prime minister.

remember, this is working with the embassy, our diplomats in afghanistan —— as other western forces they've committed child and — western forces they've committed child and don't discriminate between different_ child and don't discriminate between different sorts of people. ——remember, this is a group of people who worked loyally, in a very committed way with british military, but also the british embassy, our diplomats in afghanistan, and now suddenly found themselves vulnerable as british and other western forces sleep. the taliban don't discriminate between different sorts of people. if you work for the predation they find out about it, then you and your family are addressed. so this is a debt of honour that we need to pay to some very loyal people who worked closely with us. in response the british ministry of defence released a statement saying that "we owe a huge debt of gratitude to interpreters" and that "the government has already supported over 2,200 former afghan staff and their families" to create new lives in the uk. this issue is not exclusive to the uk. other countries are also working out how they will meet their commitments. here's the bbc�*s defence correspondentjonathan beale: i think the difficulty is, and all countries are having this, because, you know, the americans have just started

a scheme to, you know, they had a scheme, but they are now sort of ramping up their scheme to relocate their interpreters, many more people work for the americans than for the british. it's a cut off. i mean, you know, what constitutes a rejection? for what sort of offence, was it a disciplinary offence? was it something more serious because? but also, what groups do you include or disclude? for example, what about drivers? what about, you know, there is a gentleman who was an afghan gardener who has come under threat. so, anybody, the problem is, anybody who has been in afghanistan and worked for the british, you know, there are no secrets and afghanistan. people know. and if they are in an area where the taliban on the rise, their lives are going to be interact. ——their lives are going to be under threat on that last point — the taliban has been growing in strength this year, ever since the announcement that us, british and all other nato forces will leave afghanistan by the 11th of september. here's the view of one politics professor on that. one of the concerns we have, of

course, — one of the concerns we have, of course, is — one of the concerns we have, of course, is afghanistan is very quickly— course, is afghanistan is very quickly falling apart. that caliban is gaining — quickly falling apart. that caliban is gaining ground at a speed that nobody— is gaining ground at a speed that nobody really quite expected. those who are _ nobody really quite expected. those who are associated with western forces _ who are associated with western forces are — who are associated with western forces are explicit targets for the caliban — —— that caliban. more than 1500 civilians have been killed as a result of the conflict in the first half of this year. and the international community is wary of the worsening violence. here's the us secretary of state. and afghanistan that does not respect the rights of its people, and afghanistan that commits atrocities against its own people would become a pariah state. that caliban says that it seeks international recognition. well, the taking over the country by force and abusing the rights of his people is not the path to achieve those objectives.

writes, let's turn to the health of the people in uk now. a study has found that more than a third of adults in their late 40s have multiple chronic health issues. this research was jumbled in the journal bmc public health. it found 26% of people drink alkali levels considered high risk. 21% reported suffering from current back problems. 19% of people said they suffered from poor mental health. and 16% of those taking part had high blood pressure. people from poorer background were more likely to find themselves with mutliple problems — that's two or more from the list — compared to those from richer backgrounds. george ploubidis from unversity college london worked on the study. this is one of our findings that early economic disadvantage is associated with the presence of more long—term chronic conditions, long—term conditions in midlife.

the prevalence of two or more chronic conditions is 34%, which is a lot, especially if you consider the implications that this might have for the health system, the labour market and of course the quality of life. the findings are from the 1970 british cohort study which has tracked the lives of about 17,000 people who were born in the same week back in april, 1970. so it's a snapshot of one particular generation. the participants were aged between 46 and 48 during this part of the research. let's get some analysis from alison giles from the charity, the centre for ageing better. prevention is always better than cure, so we need radical action from government to promote healthier environments and to address the poverty of opportunity that faces less advantaged families, so the study highlighted that for poorfamilies can he see much more ill health and younger age groups, so, we need a robust plan

of action to tackle air pollution, to address what they found, but also to improve the quality of our food and ensure that everyone has access to green space, but, i think as well as prevention, it's really important that we don't write off this current generation of people who have these multiple long—term conditions, and we really want more attention paid by the health service to physical activity because it's really a critical part of managing these long—term conditions, particularly mental health, back pain, asthma and diabetes, and what we find, unlike that smoking come away you get asked, do you smoke and you get referred ——smoking where you get asked, do you smoke and you get referred to services, people are very rarely asked about their physical activity, and they are not supported or signposted to take appropriate action, so that would be the one thing that we would like to have the health service to focus on as a result of this study today. the researchers said their findings showed the health of british adults in midlife is actually on the decline. dr nighat arif is an nhs gp.

i'm not surprised at all. as a doctor, i see a lot of chronic illnesses that actually come about around midlife and as young as 40. i still feel 40s, 50s, 60s is relatively young. our body is a machinery and as machineries get older, unfortunately these health conditions do come about. so, we should be educating people around what are the signs and symptoms of diabetes, high blood pressure? how to look after your back, how to look after those joints much, much better. the study found that amongst those reporting multiple chronic health problems, it was common to find mental health issues somewhere in the mix. here's alison giles again. what this study shows is that these health conditions cluster together. so, you get a first condition — perhaps you're depressed or you develop asthma — and then you go on to develop a second condition. now, that should not be acceptable to the health service. we should be trying to manage that first condition well and stop people developing other ones. so, i think we need to get the messaging right. we need the health service to really

support people to manage those first conditions and in particular, to stop smoking, to support them to eat well and to be physically active because those things will make a big difference to how those conditions play out for those individuals. tackling the problem will require action on behalf of inviduals and by the uk's health service, the nhs. here's nighat arif again. it has to be both. it has to be with the person or the patient and individuals themselves — so exercise, look after your weight, make sure that you are stopping smoking, make sure you're keeping a tab on the amount that you're drinking as well, and having an awareness of mental health and reaching out for support — and then also what the health care sector can provide. on the amount that you're drinking as well, and having an awareness of mental health and reaching out for support — and then also what the health care sector can provide. i think the nhs is... we've got to remember we're set up as an emergency service to provide

free point of access for care at the point when someone needs it. what's happened is it's grown into this phenomenal health care infrastructure which provides care for everybody. but there is only limitations and we as individuals have to play our part in order to prop up this phenomenal, phenomenal service. good evening. summer warmth and sunshine may be in short supply at the moment, but one thing we haven't been short of today is rain. drenching downpours and thunderstorms have affected many places. and in northern scotland, the rain has been heavy and persistent and we still have this met office amber warning in force, with that wet weather continuing on through the evening and into the night and then sinking its way a little further southwards as well, getting in across northern ireland through the early hours of thursday. for england and wales, showers taking a while to fade, but most places should be dry by the end of the night. compared with some we've had recently, it's going to be a relatively cool and fresh night as well. so low pressure will still be close by during tomorrow, this low drifting slowly eastwards. this next little area

of low—pressure racing in from the southwest will start to influence the weather as we head towards the end of the day. but across northern ireland, scotland and northern england, we can expect a lot of cloud, some outbreaks of rain at times. wales, the midlands, east anglia and the southeast should be largely dry with some sunshine, just one or two showers, and then our area of low pressure approaching from the southwest to bring cloud and rain here by the end of the afternoon. it is going to be quite a windy day and quite a cool one for the time of year as well, top temperatures between 16 and 21 degrees. but as this little area of low pressure approaches on the southwest, we're going to see some really heavy rain for a time across southwest england, getting up into south wales and running eastwards as we go through the night. and for a time, some very strong and gusty winds. we could see gusts of 40 to 50 miles per hour or more in some exposed spots. quite unusual for this time of year. could cause some disruption. the wet and fairly blustery weather will push eastwards across the midlands, east anglia, the southeast, so summer rain here for a time on friday. that will tend to clear away.

drier conditions behind, with some sunny spells. still the potential for one or two showers and temperatures between 17 and 20 degrees. now, as we head into the weekend, we have low pressure up to the northeast, higher pressure to the southwest, but neither really taking control of our weather. we're kind of trapped between the two, so that means there will still be some showers but not as many as we've had over recent days, a decent amount of dry weather. and it will feel cool, especially in the north.

hello, i'm nuala mcgovern, this is outside source. the uk relaxes travel rues to allow more foreign visitors. —— travel rules. people being vaccinated in europe and america now means that we can move to that next stage which is allowing people to come here and if they are double—vaccinated, avoid having to quarantine. england, scotland and wales have eased their rules in time for august tourist arrivals. there's no change yet in northern ireland. the in northern ireland. united states struggles to pus its the united states struggles to push its vaccination numbers up. president biden had this message. we president biden had this message. - still have a lot of people not vaccinated. the pandemic we have right now is a pandemic of the

unvaccinated. and at the olympics, host nationjapan sits top