jeremy bowen, bbc news. arabic‘s beirut correspondent carine torbey who is at one of the hospitals treating the thousands of people injured... the death toll is rising fast and almost 4000 people known to have been injured. describe the scene where you are now. i am standing in front of the emergency guide of one of the hospitals and people are still coming here, either to check on relatives or check whether their relatives are in back at the hospital. there are so many people are unaccounted for. just to give you an idea of how overwhelmed at the hospitals are here and everywhere - in the hospitals are here and everywhere in but beirut, the injured have been mainlybeirut, the injuredhavebeen brought to hospitals by thousands, they have not been able to treat them in rooms, they have brought them in rooms, they have brought them to corridors, offices, everywhere, the whole hospital, everywhere, the whole hospital, every single space in the hospital has been turned into an emergency unit. people are still com

jeremy bowen, bbc news.logist, dr anthony fauci, has said he doesn't expect any coronavirus vaccine to be approved before the end of the year. he said the fight against the virus was fully dependent on the availability of a safe and effective vaccine, and stressed that political considerations would not be allowed to interfere in the regulatory process. we likely are going to have many tens of millions of doses in the early part of the year but, as we get into 2021, the manufacturers tell us that they will have hundreds of millions and likely a billion doses by the end of 2021 so i think the process is moving along at a pretty favourable pace. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, says what dr fauci says is quite different to what the president is saying. we see caution from the top medical experts here and optimism, bordering, some might say, on hubris, from the president of the united states who today, a fairly short while ago, in a white house briefing said that multinational pharmaceutical compa

jeremy bowen, bbc news. let s get some of the day s other news.ogist, doctor anthony fauci, says he doen‘t expect a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine to have been approved by regulatory authorities before the end of the year but remains confident tens of millions of doses would be available by early 2021, rising to at least a billion by the end of next year. and yet another grim milestone has been reached in the coronavirus pandemic. more than 700,000 people have now died from the disease, according to researchers atjohns hopkins university. the us has reported the most deaths with more than 157,000, followed by brazil and mexico. more than 11 million people have now recovered from the virus worldwide. joe biden will no longer travel to milwaukee to accept the democratic nomination for president. that's because of the coronavirus crisis. the former vice president will instead accept his party's backing from his home state of delaware. the decision comes as president trump says he may give his big convention speech from the white house. stay w

jeremy bowen, bbc news. 0ur correspondent, carine torbey has been at the american university medical we are standing at the moment in front of the emergency gate. people are still coming in either to check on their relatives or to check whether their relatives are inside the hospital because they're still a large number of people who are unaccounted for. of course, the hospital, this hospital, like every other hospital in beirut, has been completely overwhelmed. they are working to their utmost capacity and are still unable to deal with the larger number of injured coming to the hospital by the second. of course, every single space in the hospital has been turned into an emergency unit. as you can see, people are treated in corridors, people are treated even inside offices, not only in the medical rooms of the hospital, because it is impossible to accommodate everyone in the rooms. even the hospitals are categorising people according to the severity of their cases and giving priority to those who are at a very critical condition because this is the only way to deal with this high, ve

jeremy bowen, bbc news. 0ur correspondent, carine torbey, has been at the american university medicalt. we are standing at the moment in front of the emergency gate. people are still coming in either to check on their relatives or to check whether their relatives are inside the hospital because they're still a large number of people unaccounted for. this hospital like every other hospital in beirut has been completely overwhelmed. they awoke into utmost capacity and are not able to deal with the larger number of injured coming in. —— they are. people are being treated in corridors and even inside officers and not only in the medical rooms of the hospital because it is impossible to accommodate eve ryo ne impossible to accommodate everyone in the rooms. even the hospitals are categorising people according to the severity of cases and giving priority to those in a very critical condition because this is the only way to deal with this very high pressure they are under at the moment. as you can see, this is a real emergency inside even in the emergency inside even in the emergency unit an

jeremy bowen, bbc news.penalised us president donald trump and his campaign for posts in which he claimed children are "almost immune" to coronavirus. facebook deleted the post, saying it contained "harmful covid misinformation". twitter said it temporarily froze the official trump campaign account and required the tweet be deleted before the account could be reactivated. 0ur news reporter alanna petroffjoins me now with more. of this place into the debate of this place into the debate of what can be said on social media, what responsibility the platforms have for what he said and the issue of reopening schools. president trump said ina fox schools. president trump said in a fox news interview that children were almost immune to covid—19 and that was twittered out by team trump on twitter and put out on their facebook pages and donald trump retweeted this but, as you just mentioned, that was taken down by both platforms and this was the first time that facebook has removed a post in this way from the faceboo

jeremy bowen, bbc news. scientists uncover the unseen scale of plastic pollution clogging the atlantic ocean. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed, i did have a relationship with ms lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the last ten days, 500 have died. chanting: czechoslovakia must be free! czechoslovakia must be free! russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 sub mariners who died on board the kursk. we are all with them now. they're within our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us" chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well," joked the pope. "so, you want me to desert rome? " this is bbc news, the latest headlines. day two of the virtual convention — joe bi

here's our middle east editor, jeremy bowen.to warn you — his report contains distressing images. explosion. it was a massive explosion. shouting. another view from the bay. and from the streets. what happened 7 oh, my god! oh, my god. it looks as if dozens are dead and several thousand injured. and a country already deep in crisis has been hit by a catastrophe. translation: i don't know what happened. i was fishing. i heard there was a fire. i turned and started to head home. i heard something explode and then this happened. this was the fire in beirut port. the flashes, they say, wear fireworks. then something much bigger ignited. lebanon's interior minister told local media it was alarm bell. this is downtown beirut, close to the parliament building will stop since the end of last year, lebanon has been paralysed by a political and economic crisis, and street demonstrations, before the country was gripped by the pandemic. the damage is spread across the city. the shock will run much deeper. and this tragedy risks pushing the

jeremy bowen, bbc news.day's other news: in france, almost 2,000 firefighters have been trying to extinguish wildfires to the west of marseille, which broke out on tuesday. some 2,700 people have had to be evacuated from campsites and residential areas. the fires, which cover an area of about ten square kilometres near martigues, are now thought to be under control. the scottish city of aberdeen is back under lockdown restrictions. pu bs, cafes a nd restau ra nts were ordered to close after a spike in coronavirus cases. 5a cases have been recorded in the cluster. residents have been told they can't visit each other‘s homes or travel more than 5 miles from where they live, unless for work or education. the funeral of the former sdlp leader, john hume, one of the key architects of the northern ireland peace process. at the service, tributes were paid from around the world for the contribution he made towards ending the troubles. he died on monday at the age of 83. the top immunologist, anthony fauci, said he d

jeremy bowen, bbc news.e united states, we're just let's take you back to the united states, we'rejust at the moment on a video ofjill biden's live and our correspondent in delaware, joe biden's home state. we are going to go live to the convention as soon as going to go live to the convention as soon as doctor biden starts to speak. you mentioned that when she was the former second lady of the united states, she kept quite a low—profile. united states, she kept quite a low-profile. she did, but now she is her husband's closest political advisor, played a key role in the selection of kamala harris's running mate and she isa harris's running mate and she is a lifelong educator and shortly we are going to hear her speaking live from the classroom of the high school here in wilmington where she taught and she will be making this speech about her husband stopping the theme of tonight is leadership matters so she dou btless is leadership matters so she doubtless will be speaking to his leadership qualities but al

jeremy bowen, bbc news.e generes made tv history 20 years ago when she came out as gay on her comedy show. she went on to present the oscars. now, serious allegations of a toxic culture on her long—running chat show have led to three of her top team being fired and put the whole ellen brand under scrutiny. from los angeles, sophie long. what can i say? did that not work out? screaming. it is moments and guests like this that have made the ellen show a daytime staple in the lives of millions around the world. turning it into a huge money maker for warner brothers and giving its 62—year—old host, who signs of every episode by saying, be kind, a massive platform. but after years of rumours, a twitter thread asking people to share stories showing that the star did not practice what she preached, led to damaging media reports and an internal investigation. that has resulted in three top producers being ousted from the show, following allegations of bullying, intimidation and sexual misconduct. they have previousl

jeremy bowen, bbc news.ght, and speak to our correspondent carine torbey. so, dozens of people still missing. thousands and thousands homeless. describe the situation tonight? well, this has been a very long and sad day in beirut, after the immediate shock of the explosion yesterday, people were able today to assess the real scale of the devastation. and i'm notjust talking about the ruins, the shards of glass everywhere, we are also talking about entire neighbourhoods becoming completely uninhabitable, which means thousands of people, tens of thousands of people, becoming homeless from one day to the other. but i've seen a lot of community support, empathy, people opening their houses to their friends, their relatives or even com plete friends, their relatives or even complete strangers. but this is not sustainable. and this issue should be one of the top priorities in any rescue plan. because from what we have seen today, it is very unlikely that beirut will heal any time soon. thank you. the rest of the n

jeremy bowen, bbc new laura: chicago schools will begin the year with online courses as coronavirus casesrise. chicago is america's third-largest schoolm after new york and a lack -- and l.a. ico's decision comes after the united nations report showing that worldwide, studentn 1.6 million have been infected by the pandemic. more than 23 million are likely to drop out or lose access to education and the impact is being felt far beyond the classroom. thu.n. warns school closures have socialio ramific, leaving many students without meals and increasing the risk of violence ainst women and girls. this is the assistant general at unesco. sheia is also the former it minister and joins us now from tuscany. the u.n. secretaryrneneral of a generational catastrophe because of school closures due to the pandemic. why do you think it is going to be that severe? >> good evening. thanks for inviting me. secretary-general warns of athe generational catastrophean unprecedented waste of human potential, because the longer schools will be closed, the higher thedr risk oout and learning loss. that's why thi

jeremy bowen, bbc news. cause of the explosion are still going on, but the lebanese president has already blamed the massive quantity of confiscated ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at the port. it's normally used as a fertiliser and in industrial explosives. ammonium nitrate explosions have caused deaths in the past. in many cases a fire has broken out first, and then stored ammonium nitrate has exploded. in 2015 in tianjin, china —nitrocellulose caught fire in a warehouse, later triggering an explosion of 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate. 173 people died. in april 2013 in west texas, 15 people were killed, and 200 injured when a fertiliser company building caught fire. ammonium nitrate stored there later exploded — flattening 80 homes. the largest death toll was in texas in 1947. 581 people were killed when 2,300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded on board a cargo ship. vyto babrauskas — founder of fire science and technology inc — has written an extensive review of ammonium nitrate explosions. he told the

here‘s the analysis of our middle east editor, jeremy bowen.his crisis. but it has none of those strengths. the mayor inspected the damage. he said reconstruction would take billions of dollars. that‘s money lebanon just does not have. lebanon‘s president, michel aoun, has declared three days of mourning. many lebanese are sick of all their leaders. some former warlords, like the president, who have been at the top for decades. lebanon‘s youth want change. before and sometimes during the pandemic, there have been public protests and rage against corruption and incompetence at the top. some of them said they wanted a revolution. the fear is that lebanon will become a failed state again. hundreds of thousands had been pushed into poverty by the collapse of the currency and hyperinflation, and all of this in the most unstable region in the world. lebanon is surrounded by enemies, and the kind of friends no country wants. to the south, there is israel. this time they have offered aid but before that the talk was of border tension and perhaps even a

jeremy bowen pose that earlier. was it negligence?s and there is a very grim operation under way, but there is a lwa ys operation under way, but there is always hope that perhaps there is more people alive out of this. we should never give up. people can last a number of days in those conditions, we need search dogs, rescue teams, the heavy lifting equipment, i hope the lebanese government is listening to the calls and requests. nothing can move until they give the green light. i know britain is very, very keen to help. tobias ellwood, thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news. lebanon is in mourning after the huge explosion which killed at least 100 people and injured more than 4,000 others. after a cluster of cases some lockdown restrictions are reimposed in aberdeen — scotland‘s first minister says schools must be prioritised over pubs — echoing england‘s children‘s commissioner the ‘critical government errors‘ which led to many more people contracting covid—19 — a damning report from mps. scotland‘s first minister has introdu

jeremy bowen.s first minister has introduced tough new restrictions on pubs, cafes and restaurants in aberdeen — after a spike in coronavirus cases linked to a pub in the city. nicola sturgeon made clear her priority is to re—open schools from next week. that follow claims from england's children commissioner that the hospitality industry was being given priority over schooling. in a moment, we'll get the latest from our scotland correspondent on nicola sturgeon‘s announcement, but first, this report from our political correspondent, nick eardley. scotland's third biggest city, aberdeen, with significant restrictions announced. households are being told not to meet indoors, people are being urged not to travel more than five miles for leisure. and with concern about the virus spreading in pubs, they are being told to shut again from this afternoon to try and prevent a bigger outbreak. we are at a stage of this pandemic where extreme caution is necessary and also, in my view, sensible. i'm also mind

jeremy bowen, bbc news.ts have been ordered to close in aberdeen this evening after a spike in coronavirus cases. 5a cases have been recorded in the cluster. residents have been told they can't visit each other‘s homes or travel more than five miles from where they live, unless for work or education, as lockdown restrictions are reimposed. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. aberdeen, back into a local lockdown. more than 200,000 people living here facing restrictions on what they can do and where they can go. this, a last pint poured in a granite city pub before, like other venues, at five o'clock it had to close. instead of closing down aberdeen, maybe close the two or three bars, that's fair enough. some people, this is the only enjoyment they get. it's fair enough but i think it's absolutely terrible they are having to go through all this again. what can you do? the first confirmed cases were traced back to this city centre bar. 5a people have now tested positive. more than 30 venues linked

to bring you up—to—date with the information given byjeremy bowman, our middle east editor —— jeremy bowenve you been able to speak to other people? and discuss their thoughts of the explosion? you were saying the smoke looks different than car bombs. is that what other people were saying to you as well when you tried to analyse what might have happened ? when you tried to analyse what might have happened? i called some of my friends, especially the ones who experience explosions before like i did, and we alljust started questioning the smoke. the thing is, other people were saying that because the smoke is different, it could be a new sort of bomb or a new sort of an attack which made people a lot more scared, so people were thinking it is not a car bomb, it is something worse. literally all of beirut, people calling each of the from different areas kilometres away and they were experiencing the same thing, broken glass, buildings shaking, loud explosions, which actually... we were shocked because usually when it happens, just one area, they experience those happenings after an explosion,

jeremy bowen, bbc news.shoppped online. universities call for urgent support from the uk government, after the u—turn over a—levels. the education secretary resists calls to resign, but does say he's sorry for the distress caused. this is not something that anyone wanted, whether it was from our perspective, or from the exam boards, or 0fqual‘s perspective, but that's why we had to take action when we did. michelle 0bama launches a scathing attack on donald trump at the democratic party's virtual convention. whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy. a un—backed court in the hague is due to deliver its verdict on the four men accused of killing lebanon's prime minister, rafik al—hariri. calls to licence commercial dog walkers in the uk — the rspca says it wants to see higher welfare standards. let's bring you more on what michelle 0bama said to the democratic convention y

jeremy bowen, bbc news. so many problems in lebanon. ijust wa nt to so many problems in lebanon.bunal will postpone a verdict on the former prime minister rafik hariri's murder, they have delayed it until the 18th of august. there is that two week emergency and place in lebanon, so things postponed for the moment. let's speak to caroline duconseille. she's from the aid organisation humanity & inclusion uk and is in beirut. i'm surea i'm sure a busy time for your team. tell us what you're doing today. that's right. good evening, everybody. it is a very busy day. yesterday, our team, the humanity & inclusion team on the ground visited some hospitals and met some national organisations like red cross and even met some military officers, and we did the kind of assessment of the need. basically, many people reached out yesterday, some of them left a few hours after and some now are waiting for some surgeries, so we've just met some people, assess the situation, try and find out what is the situation, what are the needs. as you mentioned before, the situation in lebanon is very complic

here's our middle east editor, jeremy bowen.you — his report contains distressing images. it was a massive explosion. shouting. another view from the bay. and from the streets. what happened 7 oh, my god! oh, my god. it looks as if dozens are dead and several thousand injured. and a country already deep in crisis has been hit by a catastrophe. translation: i don't know what happened. i was fishing. i heard there was a fire. i turned and started to head home. i heard something explode and then this happened. this was the fire in beirut port. the flashes, they say, wear fireworks. then something much bigger ignited. lebanon's interior minister told local media it was ammonium nitrate, which had been stored there since 2014. sirens. it can be used as fertiliser or to make explosives. alarm bell. this is downtown beirut, close to the parliament building will stop since the end of last year, lebanon has been paralysed by a political and economic crisis, and street demonstrations, before the country was gripped by the pandemic. the da