now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with zeinab badawi. welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. my guest is one of the most brilliant scientists in the world, and he's african. his ground—breaking research is helping tackle diseases that kill thousands every year. cameroonian—born professor christian happi gave up a successful career at harvard university in the united states and moved back to africa. he's setting up a world—class laboratory in nigeria, which will have a pandemic early detection system. he believes africa could become a global centre of knowledge about infectious diseases such as covid. how realistic is his vision? professor christian happi in ibadan, southern nigeria, welcome to hardtalk. how worried are you about the third wave of covid in africa? we've seen some countries are quite badly affected, such as south africa. thank you. i'm very concerned about a tidal wave of covid in africa. we've seen countries like south africa, uganda, kenya, liberia, sierra leone, as i'm speaking now, the number of cases are up over 1,000—fold in each of these countries. and i

now on bbc news, zeinab badawi talks to two of today's biggest opera names, italian mezzo soprano ceciliali and tenor juan diego florez. i've been an opera fan for decades and i want to share my passion with you so i'm on a mission to tell you about some of the names in opera who are making it fit for the future. superstar cecilia bartoli is the italian mezzo soprano who originally wanted to be a flamenco dancer. and peruvian born tenor juan diego florez is an icon but he wanted to become a pop star. big names today — but are they prepared for the opera world of tomorrow? we had to start more with using technology and using streaming, for instance. it's a beautiful art and if more and more young people come to the theatre and enjoy that, it's a magical world. let me take you to the opera. juan diego florez and cecilia bartoli are two of the most popular and respected stars in opera today. but they are also helping to forge a more secure future for opera, one that embraces tradition whilst also driving innovation. italian mezzo soprano cecilia bartoli is unique in opera. she has received n

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with zeinab badawi.

and coming up at 16:30, it's hardtalk with zeinab badawi. good afternoon. government is giving strong signals that all legal restrictions around covid protection will end on the 19thjuly in england as we learn to live with the virus. the housing secretary robertjenrick said this morning that the public must start to exercise personal responsibility, including overfacemasks, rather than the government telling people what to do. our political correspondent, nick eardley, has the details. masks and social distancing have become part of our lives. but for how much longer? with shops open again, pubs serving pints, the government wants to go further, lifting all legal restrictions in england. this morning, ministers suggested legal rules around face coverings were among those likely to go. it does look as if, thanks to the success of the vaccine programme, that we now have the scope to roll back those restrictions and return to a normality as far as possible. we should all be prepared, though, that cases may continue to rise. they may continue to rise significan

and, coming up later this hour — wejoin zeinab badawi for take me to the opera. good afternoon.ew minutes, jamaica have secured a clean sweep, first, second and third in the women's 100 meters at the olympic games in tokyo. this is how the race was run — with elaine thompson herah strectching into the lead to take the gold medal in an olympic record time of 10.61 seconds. shelley—ann fraser—price won silver and shericka jackson the bronze. it was the second—fastest time ever run by a female athlete. it comes as one of team gb�*s great medal hopes, dina asher—smith, saw her bid for the podium come to an early end after failing to qualify for the 100 metres final. she says she's still struggling with a hamstring issue and has now withdrawn from the 200 metre event. this is what asher—smith said afterfinishing third in her heat. i afterfinishing third in her heat. am going to pull o| had i am going to pull out. joined us had that conversation with me, and that's the one that... as reigning world champion, you just... i was in such good shape. you just know that the olympic champion