this is bbc news. i'm victoria fritz with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. prove you've been vaccinated, or face more testing. president biden prepares a nationwide immunisation push as us covid cases continue to soar. president biden meets the exiled belarusian opposition leader, svetla na ti kha novs kaya, at the white house in a strong show of support. the message it to the whole world is the threat of the country is with us, and this meeting is like success of all belarusian. the climate state we're in — british scientists prove

the past two decades have been warmer, wetter and sunnier than 20th century average. i'm sarah mulkerrins live in tokyo on day 6 of the olympics, where the us swimming star caeleb dressell blazed to victory in the men's 100 metre freestyle. china's women break a record. # never never never... and from behind the decks to centre stage, the world's most famous music producer mark ronson joins us to talk about his new documentary series. hello and welcome. president biden is expected to announce that federal workers will soon be required to confirm they are vaccinated orface more testing. the numbers of coronavirus

cases are rising, with the director of the us national public health agency. the cdc, saying cases have increased over 300% nationally since mid—june. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. there is a growing sense of urgency. about half the population is fully vaccinated, but infection rates are rising, the delta variant is spreading rapidly, and the number ofjabs in arms is much lower thanjoe biden wants to see. the president is about to announce that all government workers and contractors being vaccinated against covid 19 will be required to submit to regular testing. we still have a lot of people not vaccinated. a pandemic we have now is the pandemic of the vaccinated, so please, please, please, please, go get

vaccinated. protect yourself and your children out there. it is important. mil and your children out there. it is important. all americans are being _ it is important. all americans are being advised _ it is important. all americans are being advised to - it is important. all americans are being advised to wear- it is important. all americansl are being advised to wear face masks again indoors, in public spaces, in areas where there are substantial or high transmission rates. that applies to 67% of counties, up and just 24—hour is from 63%. some of the big tech companies like facebook and google have said their staff must be vaccinated before stepping back into the office. netflix has reportedly made jabs are compulsory for all cast reportedly madejabs are compulsory for all cast and crew members on us productions. enforcement of vaccination policies is now a huge challenge facing much of corporate america. private companies have to make the decision whether they are going to mandate vaccination, or if they are not going to mandate it, if they will allow people to come into work not vaccinated but insist on verification, but the private companies are the ones will have to do the verification

because the government hasn't stepped in to do that. there is a role for government to do here that hasn't been filled adequately. whether millions of americans onlyjust whether millions of americans only just getting whether millions of americans onlyjust getting used to life again as it used to be, there is a growing unease that the growing pandemic is far from over. an infrastructure bill worth about $1 trillion has cleared a major hurdle in the us senate, after passing a procedural vote. a formal debate can now begin on the programme — one of president biden�*s main priorities. earlier republican and democratic leaders announced they'd agreed on the legislation�*s key elements following months of negotiations. mr biden said the breakthrough showed the world that american democracy could "deliver and do big things". senators agreed cross—party cooperation was the right thing to do. on the floor of the united states senate we just had a

broad and bipartisan showing to move forward on this historic legislation, which will be the greatest investment and infrastructure in our lifetimes. and it came not so much because folks were interested in it they abridge or their road, or their piece of the middle mile of broadband, but because each of us are deeply committed to demonstrating to the country and to the world that our government can work and it can work for the people of the united states of america. we came together, work together in good _ we came together, work together in good faith. democrat members, republican leaders, we have worked on at the elements of this — have worked on at the elements of this. we did some things on a bipartisan basis. it is the way— a bipartisan basis. it is the way washington should work. it is the _ way washington should work. it is the way— way washington should work. it is the way america expects us to work — coming up, more news on tokyo,

but first, japan isn't immune to rising covid cases. they are seeing the worst outbreak since the pandemic began. wednesday saw a record of more than 3000 cases in tokyo alone. i am joined by mariko oi in tokyo. organisers have confirmed to the games that there are some hospitalisations related to games cases? that is right, confirmed that two related officials from abroad have now been hospitalised here in tokyo. this is basically what people were concerned about, as the number of covid cases against a rise notjust among the japanese people, but among officials and athletes. what they get the priority over japanese citizens? two people isn't a lot, butjust last night we heard from the tokyo

govenor telling people injapan and in tokyo that if you are only showing mild symptoms and living alone, stay—at—home instead of putting extra pressure on the hospital system. there is a contrast and how those officials have been treated, and it is being marked somewhat on social media. we are expecting the number of covid cases to rise today and perhaps for the rest of the week. as you can see around me, tokyois week. as you can see around me, tokyo is currently under a state of emergency, the fourth, so people have beenjoking that this is just now the norm. people are out and about during the first and second state of emergency is — that went down about 90%, now it is down by only 2%. should the government not have declared the emergency, with the number of covid cases behaviour? we will not know the answer, the government would argue yes.

what kind of responsively seen from the healthcare system in japan? how much pressure is there on it? experts are warning that tokyo's hospitals will soon be overwhelmed if they are not already, but a lot of doctors and nurses have been warning about a situation like this way before the olympics started. an overwhelming majority of the japanese public were against the games going ahead. that is part of their action we get here — you can't exactly tell people to stay home when it was the government was my decision to go ahead with the olympics despite a strong opposition. of course, if you run by earlier the month and a number earlier in the month and osaka, west of tokyo, cases were rising, people couldn't even get admitted to hospitals. people were dying at home. that is what many people are concerned about as we see these numbers grow, notjust in tokyo but in

surrounding prefectures which are asking the government to declare a state of emergency there as well. mariko oi, thank you. we can talk, as we promise about the action on today, day six of the olympics where we have seen more medals in the pool and ended the water. let's go to our sports reporter, sarah, who has been covering the action and tokyo. success in at the pool for one of the us�*s biggest stars? absolutely, caleb drizzle, there has been so much focus and attention on him in the buildup to the games. many think he is the heir to michael phelps, we know all about him and his medals. caleb drizzle was going and as first individualfinal. —— caleb

individual final. —— caleb drizzle. individualfinal. —— caleb drizzle. his medals came and relays. he hasn't won a gold and an individual rest before. this was the men's 100 and an individual rest before. this was the men's100 metres freestyle final, two lengths of the pool. theyjust go as fast as they can. he got a brilliant start, first to the turn, and then just hung start, first to the turn, and thenjust hung on. he almost got kept to the wall by the 2016 champion, kyle chalmers of australia, who finished second. great result for him. also, in the past few minutes we have had a world record in the pool, because china's women have won the 4x200m freestyle relay. they laid out with their star swimmer of the games, ariarne titmus, australia did, they have already won two medals. the usa finished second. there has been action and the rowing. we had ourfirst gold medal and

rowing for ireland, where the paul o'donovan and mccarthy. that was the lightweight men's double skulls. paul won silver in rio five years ago along with his brother, but they upgraded that to gold today. also, a great story, another pairing of brothers of sorts, the stink of its brothers from croatia winning gold in 2016. here they were able to win gold as well and the pairs. — make in the pairs. when we talk about the big names, they are so many people. you ask people who they are looking forward to seeing it was going to be a simone biles in over the last few days things haven't gone to plan. she removed herself from the team event and has removed herself from the final this evening in the all—around event. she may be in the individualfinals event. she may be in the individual finals late in the

week. let's speak to gina pongetti, a former gymnast and now physical therapist. she is also a correspondence. —— correspondent. lovely to have you on the programme. you were there when it happened. you have been speaking to a lot of the athletes within the camp over the last couple of days. i wonder what the reaction has been, and how they are feeling, whether this is, in a strange way, galvanising them. the athletes are nothing but supportive of what simone is going — supportive of what simone is going through, and i truly believe _ going through, and i truly believe it could happen to anyone _ believe it could happen to anyone of them at any time. many— anyone of them at any time. many of— anyone of them at any time. many of them have said this on sociat— many of them have said this on social media. an overwhelming amount— social media. an overwhelming amount of— social media. an overwhelming amount of support for herjust taking — amount of support for herjust taking care of her physical setf~ — taking care of her physical self. and emotional health. and making — self. and emotional health. and making sure that at the end of the day— making sure that at the end of the day the games stay safe from — the day the games stay safe from injuries, which is the

goat _ from in'uries, which is the coal. . ~' ., from in'uries, which is the ioal. ., ~' ., , from in'uries, which is the oal. ., ~ ., goal. talk to us about the time the twisties. _ goal. talk to us about the time the twisties. some _ goal. talk to us about the time the twisties. some people - goal. talk to us about the time j the twisties. some people may not have come across it — the way our mind and body can become disconnected for an athlete. explain what goes through their minds. , ., ., , ,., minds. everyone has something called proprioception _ minds. everyone has something called proprioception in - minds. everyone has something called proprioception in the - called proprioception in the body, — called proprioception in the body, knowing where your body is in _ body, knowing where your body is in space _ body, knowing where your body is in space. some people are scared — is in space. some people are scared to _ is in space. some people are scared to go and rollercoasters is because of the fear of dropping. people sometimes don't — dropping. people sometimes don't know upside down from right— don't know upside down from right side up when they start flipping _ right side up when they start flipping and at this point. when _ flipping and at this point. when you get to the national team — when you get to the national team and the world stage — they happen— team and the world stage — they happen less often, but they do happen— happen less often, but they do happen especially when you are doing _ happen especially when you are doing 25— happen especially when you are doing 2.5 twists, triple twist. you — doing 2.5 twists, triple twist. you are — doing 2.5 twists, triple twist. you are essentially twisting and flipping, so your gyroscope is off — and flipping, so your gyroscope is off it — and flipping, so your gyroscope is off. it isn't so simple as tojust _ is off. it isn't so simple as tojust try— is off. it isn't so simple as tojust try again. is off. it isn't so simple as to just try again. sometimes it can take — to just try again. sometimes it can take days or weeks to get over~ — can take days or weeks to get over~ you _ can take days or weeks to get over. you can go back and start

to do— over. you can go back and start to do drills _ over. you can go back and start to do drills to understand where _ to do drills to understand where you are, may do vault blocking. _ where you are, may do vault blocking, a single twist instead of a double, but if you are lost — instead of a double, but if you are lost in _ instead of a double, but if you are lost in space it is incredibly confusing, as i have written — incredibly confusing, as i have written about in a physics article. _ written about in a physics article, also in one for inside gymnastics. there is a layer of fear— gymnastics. there is a layer of fear - — gymnastics. there is a layer of fear - this _ gymnastics. there is a layer of fear — this physical layer of fear— fear — this physical layer of fear that— fear — this physical layer of fear that is very much separating things like diving, gymnastics, aerial skiing, from other— gymnastics, aerial skiing, from other spots that mayjust have a fear — other spots that mayjust have a fear of — other spots that mayjust have a fear of disappointment or fear— a fear of disappointment or fear of— a fear of disappointment or fear of performance. lovely _ fear of performance. lovely to get your thoughts on the programme. thank you. gina pongetti, correspondent with inside gymnastics. we have had news and recent minutes that sam kendricks has been ruled out of the games. he has tested positive for covid 19 and he is here in tokyo at the moment. the athletics were

due to get started on friday. he has been taken away to an isolation facility. those cases of coronavirus are still around the athletes' village, still a big talking point in the games. thank you very much, sarah. great round—up of what is going on at the moment. i am sure we will talk later. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: one of the world's most famous music producers, mark ronson, speaks to us about his new documentary series. cheering. the us space agency, nasa, has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk.

the last foot patrol in south armagh, once an everyday part of the soldier's lot, drudgery and danger. now no more, after almost four decades. if one is on one's own in a private house, not doing any harm to anyone, i don't see why all these people should wander in and say you're doing something wrong. six rare white lion . cubs are on the prowl at worcestershire park and they've been metl with a roar of approval from visitors. - they are lovely and sweet, yeah, cute. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president biden prepares a nationwide vaccination push — as us covid cases

continue to soar. federal employeee could be told, getjabbed orface daily testing. president biden says he was honoured to meet the exiled belarusian opposition leader, svetla na tikhanovskaya, at the white house. she said the visit would prove inspirational to her opposition movement which is trying to oust president lukashenko from power after what they claim was a rigged election last year. mark lobel has more and his report contains flashing images. this was the state's response to protesters disputing what they called a rigged election back in august. few here believe the country's long—time president alexander lukashenko when he claimed he had won re—election with 80% of the vote, and neither did governments in the eu, uk, canada and the us. and this is the woman who says she won that election, svetla na ti kha novs kaya. she met president biden at

the white house on wednesday. this is a very significant meeting, a message to the whole world that the greatest country in the world is with us and this meeting is like success of all of the belarusians versions that are fighting at the moment. they include thousands of civilians taking to the streets for months, at risk of their own security. but the opposition is not being tolerated by the man dubbed europe's last dictator. keen to rally the beleaguered opposition, president biden tweeted he was honoured to meet the exiled opposition leader adding that the united states stands with the people of belarus in their quest for democracy and universal human rights. it's like inspiration for our people to move forward,

not to give up, although people are not giving up, for sure, but it's one more signal that we have strong allies beside us. but despite sanctions on his regime and international flight bans, president lukashenko has dug in with russian support. we talked about multiple points of pressure on the regime for the regime to stop violence, release political prisoners and start dialogue with belarus, and you know, i'm sure that belarus can be an example of non—violent transition of power. she told the president the us could be an invaluable future partner to an independent belarus, but for that to become a reality, the situation on the ground would have to look vastly different to this, with no immediate sign it will. mark lobel, bbc news.

the bass player dusty miller has died at the age of 72. —— dusty hill. he was one of the long bearded musicians behind hits like sharp dressed man. the band toured for nearly half a century. in the container ship which blocked the suez canal for nearly a week in march has finally arrived at the dutch port of rotterdam today. the ship which was grounded at the end of march, ceiling shut one of the world's busiest waterways and causing a backlog because more than three months impounded by the suez canal authority during a dispute over compensation with its owners. a report by the met office says the impact of climate change is already being felt across the uk —— with increased rainfall, sunshine and temperatures.

last year was the third warmest, the fifth wettest and the eighth sunniest on record. it's the only year to score in the top ten, for all three categories. our science correspondent rebecca morelle reports dramatic from storms in debris which caused chaos across the country. to a summer heatwave where temperatures smelted above 3a degrees for six consecutive days and rain in october, with the uk's wettest day on record. it's all charted on an annual assessment of the climate which found uk is getting wetter, warmer and sunnier. we can see very clearly the relations that the uk climate is already changing the climate change isn'tjust something that will happen in 2050 we need to worry about

towards the end of the century, we are seeing this very clearly on our observations now. the reports can 30 years before nine degrees hotter. for rainfall, the country was an average of 6% wetter and 2020 was the eight sunniest year recorded in the last 100 years. new defences are under construction, like this tidal barrier in lincolnshire to cope with future storm surges. but the reality is flooding is having an devastating impact now, with some homes being flooded again and again. changes that seem small having a very big effect on people's lives. ~ . �* , a very big effect on people's lives. ~ ., �* , , ., lives. what's interesting about this report _ lives. what's interesting about this report is _ lives. what's interesting about this report is there _ lives. what's interesting about this report is there is - lives. what's interesting about this report is there is lots - lives. what's interesting about this report is there is lots of i this report is there is lots of data in the so lots of temperature records and percentage changes but actually what we are seeing are the impact, the impact to us as humans, to businesses, to ecology across the uk, it

really is being played out in front of our eyes.— really is being played out in front of our eyes. come rain or shine, front of our eyes. come rain or shine. the _ front of our eyes. come rain or shine, the world _ front of our eyes. come rain or shine, the world will _ front of our eyes. come rain or shine, the world will be - shine, the world will be heading to glasgow later this yearfor heading to glasgow later this year for the united heading to glasgow later this yearfor the united nations year for the united nations climate yearfor the united nations climate summit and we will find out if governments can rise to the challenge of cutting emissions to stop the worst effects of climate change. right now, the elements show no signs of letting up, with this week's flash floods taking london by surprise, scientists will continue to track and analyse these events that they warn the extremes are becoming the norm. rebecca morelle, bbc news. mark ronson is the oscar, grammy and brit award—winning music producer behind some of pop's biggest hits. now, he's taking centre stage with a new documentary series: watch the sound on apple tv plus, which premieres on friday. earlier he talked to my colleague, reeta chakrabarti, about his time working as an intern at rolling stone magazine — at the age of 12. my voice hadn't even broken yet, i had this high—pitched squeak and they let me answer the switchboard phones, in those days it was like

the old—school buttons and i'd be like, "hi, rolling stone!" it's amazing what they let me do. but ijust wanted to be around music and i think because i wasn't some piano guitar prodigy or something i thought, maybe i'll write about it, maybe i'll make it, i'm not sure. i just want to be around it all the time. so in this new series that you've made for apple tv+ you are charting the history of music production, tell us a little bit about what you look at? yeah, well, we all know what a great song is but behind that in a great recording and our favourite classic recordings whether it's eleanor rigby or skepta, it's the sounds and we don't even realise how much goes into that, so going to talk to people like paul mccartney or tame impala or the beastie boys about the revolutionary technologies that they use, even at the beginning the beatles were revolutionising technologies, so was t—pain, so was charli xcx, and they take these sounds that were very outside in the beginning and bringing them to the mainstream with their talents so i wanted to get behind that and talk

to these people and i have always been so fascinated with sound, the first time i'm met amy winehouse the first thing she said is, "i want my album to sound like this" and she played me some 60s girl group pop, so sound has always been front and centre when i've been thinking about music. and you had so many big names when you were making this series including paul mccartney, was that intimidating talking to him, or not? you know, in this show i'm sort of more the interviewer so i'm just more thinking ok, i don't want to ask paul mccartney some question that his answered like 700 times, what can we talk about that i know he will get excited about too and maybe shed new light on something that he's still never talked about, so that's where my head was at. i have so much respect forjournalism, music journalism, all of it. i thought, i'm not going to just go in there and be some kind of unprepared idiot

because that would be a wasted opportunity to sit with some of these brilliant people, so ijust over prepared like hell, just like i always do. hello. wednesday brought us another day of some sunny spells, but some really heavy downpours and frequent thunderstorms with lightning and hail, too. this was the picture in telford during wednesday afternoon. now, the outlook is for the unsettled theme to continue, so i think thursday will bring another day of sunshine and showers. it'll be quite cool and breezy. but the showers won't be as heavy or as frequent as they have been over recent days. that's down to the fact that this area of low pressure that's bringing all of this showery weather is just drifting its way off towards the north and north—east. we have got another area of low pressure developing in the south west, and that'll be more of a player through thursday night into friday. so, for much of northern ireland, scotland and northern england, quite a cloudy start to the day with some

showery rain. further south across england and much of wales, largely dry with some sunshine around. there will be some brightness developing in the north during the afternoon, but down towards the south west, expect some rain to arrive later in the day. the breeze picking up here, too. it will be quite a blustery feeling sort of day and not particularly warm for this time of year. but temperatures generally somewhere between 18—22 degrees for most of us. not too bad down towards the south east, a drier day here than we have seen recently. now, into thursday night, the showers in the north will gradually ease away, but our tension turns to the south west of england where this area of really heavy rain will move its way in and look at those wind gusts around about a0 to 50 mph, unseasonably strong gusts of wind through the english channel, through the bristol channel as well. so, it's going to be very blustery in the south first thing friday morning and a pretty wet start to the day, too. whereas further north, it's looking mostly dry to start the friday and quite a bit of dry weather for friday across parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern

england just a few showers around. further south across england and wales, we've got that initially heavy rain and brisk winds which gradually clears towards the east through the day, and then a return to some sunshine and scattered showers around, too. temperatures cooler in recent days, around 17—20 degrees on friday. and then heading towards the weekend, low pressure still not far away, but it is starting to move off towards the east. we've got a northerly air flow coming down and higher pressure out in the atlantic is trying to nudge its way in. so, between weather systems as we head through the course of the weekend. perhaps one or two showers around, but quite a bit of dry weather through saturday and sunday, too. some sunny spells and temperatures on the cool side for this time of year. bye— bye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. making progress. america's central bank says vaccinations have helped get the economy back on track. but it's not time to start removing support. we are clearly outweighs away from raising interest rates. that is not something on our radar right now. we have a deal. the us senate votes to move forward with president biden's trillion—dollar plan to renew america's infrastructure. soaring screen time. facebook revenuejumps as we spend more of our life and money, online. but could the boom soon be over? plus — trading up. online broker robinhood makes its stock market debut with a valuation of more than $30 billion.