this comes as only about one percent of the continent's earlier the africa director at the world health organisationto the delta variant in fueling increasing case numbers in weeks to come. as this variant spreads to more and more countries geographically, they will also take off in terms of the speed, of the increase in the number of cases. i think we are in for some weeks of a very difficult situation. ingrid katz is an associate faculty director of the harvard global health institute. she gave me her assessment of the coronavirus situation in africa. i remain incredibly concerned about africa. we know that new cases have been increasing for over seven weeks, rising on average of 28% week upon week, and just this week alone, as wasjust indicated, has been the most dire in terms of the pandemic in africa. what countries in particular are the ones that have been hardest hit? certainly we have the most information about south africa, where certainly the country there has been devastated. but throughout sub—saharan africa we are seeing cases continuing to rise. tell me why? because during the first wa

the head of the world health organisation, tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, says the tokyo 0lympics shoulde if the correct covid safeguards are in place. he was speaking to the international olympic committee. beyond competition, beyond metals and records, the games bring nations together in celebration, a celebration of sport, a celebration of health, a celebration of excellence, a celebration of friendship and respect. but, ultimately, they are a celebration of something even more important, of something that our world needs right now more than ever... a celebration of hope. find right now more than ever... a celebration of hope. and there are only two — celebration of hope. and there are only two days _ celebration of hope. and there are only two days to _ celebration of hope. and there are only two days to go - celebration of hope. and there are only two days to go until. are only two days to go until the olympics open. 0ur correspondent is there for us. we are two days away from the opening ceremony of these delayed 0lympic opening ceremony of these delayed olympic games and shall open

the world health organisation has said the international probe should include an investigation of a labn. now it's time for a look back at the week in parliament. hello again, and welcome to the week in parliament, your irreplaceable guide to the world of westminster and beyond. in this programme, labour delivers the prime minister's end—of—term report. last week, a million kids were off school, businesses are closing and millions will spend their summer self—isolating. a self—isolating borisjohnson explains the government's approach to covid. you have to balance the catastrophe of the disease against the suffering that is caused by lockdowns. as england ditches facemasks, mps search for some summer travel tips. if you're on an ner train travelling from england i through to scotland, the rules i change as you cross the border. have you any idea how that will practically work? - and we look back on 60 years of pmqs. you need to write out 1000 times, "i will behave myself at prime minister's questions!" but first, the last week of the parliamentary term was dominated, as was the rest of i

devestating week so far of the coronavirus pandemic, with worse yet to come according to the world health organisationcases have already passed january's peak and are doubling every eighteen days with deaths not far behind. it's likely that actual cases are much higher than this however, due to poor levels of testing. this comes as only about one percent of the continent's population is fully vaccinated. an african director at the world health organization alluded to the delta variant feeling more cases. figs alluded to the delta variant feeling more cases.- feeling more cases. as it spreads _ feeling more cases. as it spreads to _ feeling more cases. as it spreads to more - feeling more cases. as it i spreads to more countries, feeling more cases. as it - spreads to more countries, they will also take off in terms of the speed, increase and a number of cases and i think we are in for some weeks of a very difficult situation. i'm joined now by ingrid katz, associate professor of medicine at harvard university. how serious and worrying is a situation in africa right now? thank you so much for having me.

ah ah ah gerra prim is on the world health organisation model list of essential medicines and invaluable weapon in the fight against malaria and a serious infection caused by h i. v a young us financier martin scully, manager of a hedge fund, investing in health products, bought the rights to the drug in the united states. he then bumped up the price of dera, prim from $13.50 to $750.00. a 5000 percent increase me. martin squarely refused to budge on the price of his medication. now please welcome to the stage martin scrolly founder facing the financial press. he tried to defend the indefensible. thanks for coming up here. if you could rewind the clock a few months, i wonder if you would do anything differently. i probably would have raised the price higher. is probably what i would have done. line. i think health care prices are inelastic. i could have raised that higher and made more progress, which is my primary. and again, no one wants to say, no one's proud of it. but you know, this is a capitalist society, capital system, and capitalist rules. and my investors expect me to back to

the world health organisation says the number of children not receiving routine vaccines rose in everythe pandemic. it says 23 million young children did not receive jabs against diseases including measles, diptheria and polio. a record number of americans died from drug overdoses last year — an estimated 93,331. that's almost a 30% increase from the previous year. experts say the spike indicates how deadly some drugs have become, and the disruptive impact the pandemic has had on society. doctors treating brazil's president have ruled out emergency surgery for a possible intestinal obstruction. jair bolsonaro has been receiving medical treatment after suffering a chronic case of hiccups, which he says bother him "24 hours a day". he'll remain in hospital in sao paulo for the time being. the cuban government has authorised travellers arriving in the country to bring in food, medicine and other essentials without paying import duties — a move considered a concession to anti—government protesters. it was requested in an open letter by academics and intellectuals as a way to ease the short

devestating week so far of the coronavirus pandemic, with worse yet to come, according to the world health organisationho says it expects infection rates to rise for weeks. this comes as only about one percent of the continent's population is fully vaccinated. the united nations security council is meeting to discuss a possible resolution in a bitter and on—going dispute between ethiopia, egypt and sudan over a huge hydropower dam on the blue nile. ethiopia has this week begun the second phase of filling the reservoir of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam, intensifying fears that water access to egypt and sudan could be restricted. a row has broken out in spain over meat consumption. 0ne spanish government minister suggested his fellow countrymen should eat less meat for their own health and the planet's. well, that's caused beef with other senior government figures, as courtney bembridge reports. it isa it is a country famed for its dry cured ham and sausages. spaniards love they meet more than any other european countries. so many spaniards were surprised to hear that consumer affairs minister, albe

the world health organisation has said the international probe should include an investigation of a lab

china has rejected a plan by the world health organisation for a second phase of an investigation intotory, did not respect science and disregarded common sense. well, the white house press secretaryjen psaki was asked about china's stance and gave this frank response. we are deeply disappointed. the position is irresponsible and, frankly, dangerous. alongside other member states around the world, we continue to call for china to provide the needed access to data and samples. for more on this we can talk to our north america correspondent david willis. we've just heard from the white house — it feels like a stalemate at this point, with china refusing to budge, and the us insisting that they do. where do we go from here? president biden, of corus... response in which he's been in office, the two superpowers had clashed over such things as cyber security and human rights. now they are trading a war of words, if you like, over another key question. the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, and a couple of months ago, president biden urged his top officials to get to the bottom of the cause

scotland currently has the highest covid rates in europe, according to the world health organisation,rictions on the 19th ofjuly. ministers in edinburgh hope the last major legal limits, including social distancing, can be removed on 9th august, but? no decision has yet been taken on whether masks will still be required on public transport and in shops. in wales, the government will review the restrictions and outline any further lifting next week. the country's health minister said today that wales was going to have to learn to live with coronavirus, and they were weighing up the risks of catching covid against lockdown effects on mental health and the economy. and some restrictions are being eased in northern ireland today with the return of live music and an increase in the number of households able to gather in a private garden. it's understood further relaxations will be discussed by the executive this week. our medical editor, fergus walsh, joins me now. restrictions are being swept away despite rising cases. many will welcome the new freedoms — others will be very nervous. abso

china has rejected a plan by the world health organisation for a second phase of an investigation intoaboratory did not respect science and disregarded common sense. well, the white house press secretaryjen psaki was asked about china's stance and gave this frank response. we are deeply disappointed. their position is irresponsible and, frankly, dangerous. alongside other member states around the world, we continue to call for china to provide the needed access to data and samples. all of this happening against the background of us china tensions. our north america correspondent david willis has the latest. us intelligence officials were considering a number of leads and theories, among them coronavirus could have resulted from a laboratory at accident in china and this gave momentum to a theory that up until then had been seen here as a right—wing conspiracy theory, the possibility that the virus was man—made in some form. and china hasn't really been helping itself in this regard, some might argue. officials from the world health organization were only able to get access to the wuhan

the who, the world health _ every organisation. caused $1 trillion per yearin problems caused $1 trillion per year in lost productivity. with people choosing to still want to continue in some form with working from home, how do you create that separation? ladle create that separation? we have to set boundaries, _ create that separation? we have to set boundaries, we _ create that separation? we have to set boundaries, we have - create that separation? we have to set boundaries, we have to i to set boundaries, we have to decide when they are going to stop and what needs at home we are going to take care of. supporting mental health isn't really— supporting mental health isn't really an— supporting mental health isn't really an individual thing. we can provide services that gail, but really— can provide services that gail, but really understanding what are the — but really understanding what are the drivers and the root causes _ are the drivers and the root causes is _ are the drivers and the root causes is what is most important. ca

transmission, don'tjust take my word for it, the government's own advisers sage say that, as to the world health organisationring a facemask gives greater public confidence.— wearing a facemask gives greater public confidence. what do londoners make u- public confidence. what do londoners make up their — public confidence. what do londoners make up their decision? _ public confidence. what do londoners make up their decision? for - public confidence. what do londoners make up their decision? for people i make up their decision? for people who don't want _ make up their decision? for people who don't want to _ make up their decision? for people who don't want to use _ make up their decision? for people who don't want to use it, _ make up their decision? for people who don't want to use it, they i make up their decision? for people who don't want to use it, they feel| who don't want to use it, they feel they are _ who don't want to use it, they feel they are fine without a facemask, i think— they are fine without a facemask, i think they— they are fine without a facemask, i think they should just carry on with

scotland currently has the highest rates of covid cases in europe, according to the world health organisation. the scottish government is hoping to ease all restrictions on the 9th of august, but they may end up retaining some basic measures. hello and welcome to this special programme ahead of the prime minister's press conference at downing street in around 15 minutes' time. borisjohnson is expected to confirm he is confident the majority of the remaining covid restrictions in england can be lifted from 19thjuly. the final stage of the roadmap out of lockdown in england was delayed after ministers said the four tests necessary to ease restrictions further had not been met. but tonight, the prime minister will announce that wearing face masks will become voluntary from the 19th, and it's also expected he'll put an end to the one—metre plus social distancing rule. these measures will refer to england only. scotland, wales and northern ireland make their own coronavirus rules, and are expected to announce their timelines in due course. our health correspondent is nick triggle. these rules that

scotland currently has the highest rate of covid cases in europe, according to the world health organisatione scottish government is hoping to ease all restrictions on the 9th august, but they may end up keeping some basic measures. as the nhs marks its 73rd birthday, the queen has awarded the nhs the george cross for bravery for its work during the pandemic. all eyes on british tennis star emma raducanu she takes to court one at wimbledon. good evening. this evening, the prime minister has set out how he sees life in england afterjuly the 19th — though the final decision won't be taken until next week. many of the current restrictions in place since the start of the pandemic would come to an end. borisjohnson said that he wants to move away from legally enforced restrictions in favour of people making their own informed decisions. so, in england social distancing, which has dominated life for over a year, would finally come to an end. people would no longer be legally required to wear face coverings — but it would still be advised in hospitals,? healthcare settings and in enclosed public sp

scotland currently has the highest covid rates in europe, according to the world health organisationrgh hope the last major legal limits ? including social distancing — can be removed on the ninth of august — but? no decision has yet been taken on whether masks will still be required on public transport and in shops. in wales the government will review the restrictions and outline any further lifting next week. the country's health minister said today that wales was going to have to learn to live with coronavirus, and they were weighing up the risks of catching covid against lockdown effects on mental health and the economy. and some restrictions are being eased in northern ireland today with the return of live music and an increase in the number of households able to gather in a private garden. it's understood further relaxations will be discussed by the executive this week. our medical editor, fergus walsh, joins me now. the labour lead said the lifting of restrictions was reckless. covid infections are rocketing so, as some are asking why ease off most of the restrictions in engla

don'tjust take my word for it, the government's own advisers, sage, say that, as to the world health organisationhink a common—sense i approach is to keep it on, i think most people will do that. everybody is a bit scared still, aren't they? if facemasks make people feel safer, we should do it. tfl is the first operator to do this. the mayor of manchester has said he has not ruled it out for the city's tram network and, in gateshead, the local council had asked the government for powers to enforce it on all seven of the north—east council services, too. in scotland, masks will continue to be mandated on public transport and wales are likely to do the same. but, despite the differing attitudes, the government is keeping to its policy that it is personal responsibility, not a law. it is common sense, when you think about it, you would be in a crowded area and transport organisations are welcome, as i said last week, to make it a condition of carriage in the same way as other rules are done in that way. although many unions welcomed london's decision, there are concerns by some that it will leave st

of the population in south africa has had at least one vaccine dr fiona braka is from the world health organisationfor being with us on outside source, how would you describe and categorise the state of the pandemic in south africa? patrice the pandemic in south africa? africa is exneriencing _ the pandemic in south africa? africa is experiencing a _ the pandemic in south africa? africa is experiencing a third _ the pandemic in south africa? africa is experiencing a third wave, - the pandemic in south africa? sit ca is experiencing a third wave, or wave that is much higher in terms of the number of cases compared to previous waves. we hit 6 million cases this week earned south africa accounts for a6% of the cases that have been recorded in the past week and so, we are concerned seeing the evolving situation in south africa because it does have an impact on the already existing measures to cut the already existing measures to cut the pandemic and where we see crowds and increased contact among people, these are conditions that are facilitating the spread of the virus. we also have observed these dec

the world health organisation has urged extreme caution when lifting restrictions during a surge in casesmergencies programme — dr mike ryan — called the idea of letting people get infected with covid—19 earlier rather than later epi—demiological stupidity. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh examines how big the third wave could be. despite increasing levels of vaccination, coronavirus cases are doubling in the uk roughly every nine days, so how protected are we? the office for national statistics estimates that 89% of adults now have antibodies against coronavirus. the levels vary around the uk, but are the highest so far during the pandemic. antibodies will either be the result of prior infection or increasingly vaccination, but having some antibodies is not a guarantee against getting infected. a lot of these adults will have antibodies, but they'll be low levels of antibodies. they'll be waning antibodies from their original infection. what we need for full protection from something like the delta variant is the high level of neutralising antibodies that you get from two doses of the vac

transmission, don'tjust take my word for it, the government's own advisers sage say that, as do the world health organisation speaking to transport workers, the trade unions, londoners, businesses, wearing a facemask gives greater public confidence. what do londoners make up their decision? for people who don't want to use it, they feel they are fine without a facemask, i think they should just carry on without it but if you don't feel safe, just use it. i think a common—sense approach is to keep it on, i think most people will do that. everybody is a bit scared still, aren't they? - if facemasks make people feel safer, we should do it. - tfl is the first operator to do this. the mayor of manchester has said he has not ruled it out for the city's tram network and in gateshead the local council had asked the government for powers to enforce it on all seven of the north—east council services too. in scotland, masks will continue to be mandated on board public transport and wales are likely to do the same. but, despite the differing attitudes, the government is keeping to its policy that it is personal responsi

the world health organisation has urged extreme caution now a small confession.ould come clean and admit that i have had one eye on it through the last hour, which means i can confidently tell you that it is still one of peace. let's cross to our sports centre and speak to marc edwards. this is tense. absolutely. it's on a knife edge. _ this is tense. absolutely. it's on a knife edge, and _ this is tense. absolutely. it's on a knife edge, and just _ this is tense. absolutely. it's on a knife edge, and just to _ this is tense. absolutely. it's on a knife edge, andjust to recap, i this is tense. absolutely. it's on a knife edge, andjust to recap, as. this is tense. absolutely. it's on a l knife edge, and just to recap, as he said it's1—1, right into the deepest part of injury time as there are six minutes of added time. it looks like it will finish now denmark having opened the scoring on the half—hour mark. a beautiful girl from the player. a fabulous free cake rifled into the top corner. that said, the danish on the really enjoyed about eight or nine minutes of t

the world health organisation has called for e—cigarettes to be regulated, warning they are harmful,enefits of e—cigarettes as a substitute for tobacco are unclear. the bottom line is people have only used e—cigarettes for a number of years. and even though i have been conducting research in the area for eight years, the answer is still not known. the e—cigarettes do cause changes across the body, changes to your immune system, may even increase your susceptibility to developing covid—i9. so they are not harmless. but if you put them side by side with cigarettes in some situations it appears that they cause less emphysema. just before we go, a meteor has lit up the night sky in texas. it was captured by a home security camera in the town of waxahachie. the american meteor society said the fireball travelled at a slow speed, which suggested it was a small piece of an asteroid. hundreds of eyewitnesses across texas, louisiana, arkansas and oklahoma spotted it as it fell to earth. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ ben m boulos. time for a check on the weather. here is darren bett. goo

the findings have been sent to thejcvi, department of health and the world health organisation, to informs have a moment to talk about the weather. what a gorgeous picture. yes, this picture caught my eye in the last few minutes. plenty of cloud around at the moment across the country, but we will see across the country, but we will see a few showers cropped up and some could be thundery into the afternoon. we have got sunshine for some particularly in northern england into the heart of england, across western areas of the country, particularly the southwest and west wales, cloud, patchy rain and drizzle, a few showers in eastern scotland. damn into the south—west sunshine developing across scotland —— it will be damp into the south—west later. we will see some showers developing later in the afternoon. a few areas will see more than others, many of us will be dry but slow moving downpours could develop across central and south—eastern scotland in particular. more likely across the eastern half of england where we could see storms. the light winds mean if you catch a shower it will be rea

the world health organization has been crying out for donations to the covax facility they organised,ines are swiftly distributed. researchers are considering whether vaccines can be viable for longer, and israel may need some of these vaccines as the more infectious delta variant pushes up case numbers there. but with time running out to find countries with the ability and desire to receive and distribute hundreds of thousands of vaccines in time, there is a growing fear such a valuable resource could simply be thrown away. mark lobel, bbc news. i'v e i've been looking forward to showing you these pictures. an israeli photographer has captured an unusual view of sheep. it is all sped up and rather mesmerising. it was shot by drone above a farm in peace valley in northern israel. the photographer is lior patel from haifa. he admits he was shocked when his images went viral on facebook. we will keep the pastoral theme going for a minute, this is about brawn, really, in bosnia, for a traditional grass cutting competition which ijust hope you questioning your own technique. look at this.

the world health organization has been crying out for donations to the covax facility they organised,stributed. researchers are considering whether vaccines can be viable for longer, and israel may need some of these vaccines as the more infectious delta variant pushes up case numbers there. but with time running out to find countries with the ability and desire to receive and distribute hundreds of thousands of vaccines in time, there is a growing fear such a valuable resource could simply be thrown away. mark lobel, bbc news. todayis today is known as manic monday in wimbledon. so many matches to go ahead today. how will it all pan out? let's hand you over to the bbc sport centre for the latest. mark edwards with your latest sports news. starting with formula 1 where red bull driver max verstappen has had victory in the austrian grand prix. he dominated again and is now taking control of the driver's championship. he leads lewis hamilton by 52 points. hamilton had a difficult race, finishing fourth behind teammate valtteri bottas and mclaren�*s. english footballers are back at their

the world health organization has been crying out for donations to the covax facility they have organisedtly distributed, but other bilateral deals might be able to be done. in terms of the extension, clearly the duration of safe use of the vaccine has to be evidence—based, it cannot be arbitrarily decided to keep the vaccine for longer, but going forward we learn more about stability and that is why we are seeing these extensions happening. i came across a fact that the us has 13 lots ofjohnson &johnson shots that expired injune the 27th, it is fascinating. before we finish i would like your thoughts on the idea of the public policing themselves when it comes to the lifting of restrictions? i when it comes to the lifting of restrictions?— when it comes to the lifting of restrictions? ~ ., , restrictions? i think we have seen the british public— restrictions? i think we have seen the british public being _ restrictions? i think we have seenj the british public being extremely responsive to requests from the government to be careful and to comply with restrictions over the last 18 months,

over whether or not the games should take place during a pandemic, organisers received a boost today from the head of the world healthn ever, a celebration of hope. there's another olympics story today. the australian city of brisbane was confirmed as the host for the 2032 olympic games. here's the announcement. the international olympic committee is to announce that the games - of the 36 olympian are awarded to brisbane, australia. - applause. this wasn't a surprise. brisbane was the preferred candidate, but the decision still needed to be ratified by the international olympic committee. here's our australia correspondent shaimaa khalil. this news coming from brisbane, coming from queensland really has excited everybody. this is of course the 2032, and it will be the first games that will go under way and will happen under the new ioc rules mainly to lower the cost and not make the games in the event a financial burden on the host city. so the focus is going to be on sustainability, on using existing infrastructure, on creating comfortable and temporary venues. not many venues and smaller athlete villages. the openi

world health organization has urged extreme caution when governments plan to ease restrictions because of a surge in new cases — even in countries with good vaccination rates, such as the uk. the organisation's letting people get infected with covid—19 earlier rather than later was a case of "stupidity". our medical editor fergus walsh examines how big the third wave of infections could be. despite increasing levels of vaccination, coronavirus cases are doubling in the uk roughly every nine days. so, how protected are we? the office for national statistics estimates that 89% of adults now have antibodies against coronavirus. the levels vary around the uk, but are the highest so far during the pandemic. antibodies will either be the result of prior infection or, increasingly, vaccination. but having some antibodies is not a guarantee against getting infected. a lot of these adults will have antibodies, but they will be low levels of antibodies, they will be waning antibodies from an original live infection. what we need for full protection from something like the delta variant is the kind of high—level neutralising antibodies that you get from two doses of vaccine. so how big will the third w

like will help organisation that really does something, but it takes a long time to the trickles down to the country level. so actually, in the last decade we have seen the world health organization and the international control board and the united nations office of truck control, all of them working on ensuring balance, making sure that really populates, are available for palliative care whether needed has been highlighting the needs that and put out guidance with either concrete guidelines or policy papers. there has been a w, h world health assembly resolution and 2014, stating the need for palliative care with the 4 pillars just missed it. and still so many countries haven't done that. we do notice that some countries really use the guidance by world health organization and they thought of the health minister get interest. they stopped thinking about this. they set up services. now there are some really good of public private partnerships. for example, in malay, were the government pays for this test if the hospice and the all managers to find a place for it. so if they say we, you know, we got this place without this house, then the government will pay for some

world health organization has urged extreme caution when governments plan to ease restrictions because of a surge in new cases, even in countries with good vaccination rates such as the uk. the organisation'sng people get infected with covid—19 earlier rather than later was a case of stupidity. our medical editor fergus walsh examines how big the third wave of infections could be. despite increasing levels of vaccination, coronavirus cases are doubling in the uk roughly every nine days. so how protected are we? the office for national statistics estimates that 89% of adults now have antibodies against coronavirus. the levels vary around the uk but are the highest so far during the pandemic. antibodies will either be the result of prior infection or, increasingly, vaccination. but having some antibodies is not a guarantee against getting infected. a lot of these adults will have antibodies but they will be low levels of antibodies, they will be waning antibodies from an original live infection. what we need for full protection from something like the delta variant is the kind of high—level neutralising antibodies that you get from two doses of vaccine. so how big will the third wave be? the

world number one ash barty is out in the opening round. she came in as the winner of wimbledon. organisers have had to put in the extreme heat policy which allows them to monitor the healthof the players in the court in the very high temperatures here in tokyo. one of the new slides we have had today as we do with the covid—i9 cases is that the case is linked to this game has now risen to 142 with ten more announced today. prior to his journey to japan, we also had the news that the us golfer has had to pull out as it tested positive for covid—19 before making hisjourney to japan. patrick reed will now take his place. the bbc�*s mariko oi is in tokyo outside the olympic village. japan celebrating a gold medal? indeed, samantha, yuto horigome winning the first ever gold medal for skateboarding winning the gold medal tally forjapan to three. we had a win in the swimming pool and 14 takato naohisa. daiya seto failed to qualify for the finals. that was a surprise. but the government and the olympic organisers will be relieved that the sporting headlines are taking over the headlights about the more controversial aspects. the flowers in the bouquet held by the athletes come f

world number one ash barty is out, remember she came in as wimbledon champion. organisers have been forced to put in the extreme heat policy for that event which allows them to monitor the healthhe players in the court in the high temperatures in tokyo. another news that we have had today as we do with cover 19 cases is that cases are linked to this game is now linked to 132 with ten more being announced today. prior to his dreaded to japan we also had the news that the us golfer brightness dechambeau has had to pull out the event because he was tested positive. patrick reed will now take his place. let's speak to jane dougall, who joins us from the bbc sport centre. it's not been a good session for team gb though has it. devastation for the double olympic taekwondo gold—medallistjadejones taekwondo gold—medallist jade jones who suffered taekwondo gold—medallistjadejones who suffered a shock first round defeat and she would not have the chance to become the first british woman to win three gold medals at three consecutive olympics. so a real, real upset for team gb. she real, real upset forteam gb. she was real, real upset for team gb. she was beaten by kimia alizadeh from the

organisers, the government, and the japanese population. and we did have those messages today from the head of the world health organization, who said the olympicn order to keep the media, athletes, and, of course, the widerjapanese public safe. so, the action finally under way here injapan and the opening ceremony in two days' time in tokyo. the headlines on bbc news... a top police officer is to lead a new drive to tackle violence against women and girls in england and wales. with £5 million to improve safety in public places at night. as record numbers of people across the english channel, france is to double police patrols on its beaches in a deal in which the uk pays another £54 million to france. torrential rain causes severe flooding in parts of central china. at least 12 people have died in one city after its subway system was almost submerged. the uk government is to explain how it wants to overhaul trading arrangements between britain and northern ireland, which came into force after brexit. and celebrations in brisbane as the city is chosen to host the 2032 olympics. it will be the third 0lympics. it will be the third australian city