75 years on from devastation the people of hiroshima mark the use of the First Nuclear bomb with silent prayers. And coming up this hour. Beavers are given the right to remain in england 15 family groups are given permisssion to stay, 400 years after the animals were hunted to extinction in the country. Hello, and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world 7 and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. Aid from around the world has started to arrive in lebanon after the devastating chemical explosion in the port area of beirut on tuesday. The death toll now stands at 137 people, but is expected to rise. More than 5000 people were injured in the explosion. The country is begining three days of National Mourning as a two week state of emergency is declared in the region. And as leaders from around the world pledge their support for the relief effort, the french president Emmanuel Macron is due to meet his lebanese counterpart this morning. Sean dilley has the latest. A city in ruin. As authorities start to plan a colossal clean up operation, rescuers continue to search for those still missing, volunteers among the workers. More than 250,000 people were displaced and are now homeless, as the blast tore through the city, destroying buildings and property. The people of beirut are relying on a government they have little trust in to seek answers. Crowds gathered near the citys port on tuesday, drawn by these extraordinary scenes. These flashes are believed to have been caused by fireworks. But then. Explosion. Its thought to be one of the Worlds Largest non nuclear explosions, at one tenth of the power of the hiroshima bomb during the second world war. Lebanons government says the explosion was caused when 2750 tonnes of unsafely stored ammonia nitrate ignited. Translation first of all, the investigation must be a priority and its results must come quickly. Secondly, we have to intensify the search for victims under the rubble. Thirdly, we have to search for the missing people. Fourth, take care of the wounded people. Fifth, build shelters for people whose houses were totally destroyed. The country is living in national crisis. Authorities are investigating allegations that a series of failures led to officials missing several opportunities to remove the dangerous chemicals and to prevent death and destruction. Instead, the material was left here to rot and explode. A number of beirut port officials involved in the storage and guarding of the chemicals have been placed under house arrest, as investigators retrace events back more than six years. Its claimed that the dangerous chemicals were impounded from a ship in 2013 and left to sit in a warehouse. Customs and port authorities told local media they made several attempts to have the ammonia nitrate removed, but their letters to the countrys judiciary were ignored. Now, the port is destroyed and devastated. Until tuesday, the majority of lebanons food was transported here and stored in facilities like this now flattened silo. The country has been left with less than a months supply of grain. Defence officials are promising Decisive Action for anyone found to be at fault but first, investigators need to understand what caused tuesdays explosion and who knew what, and when, about the unsafe storage of chemicals that were left to claim so many lives. Sean dilley, bbc news. Before we go live to beirut, we are hearing from the government in the uk that hms enterprise, the royal navy ship, is going to be sent to survey the damage caused to the port of beirut, its currently in cyprus and it wont be actually sent to beirut until lebanese authorities decide when the work will be most effective. Hms enterprise is one of two survey ships operated by the royal navy and its experts will be able to examine and map the sea and assessed the damage and depth of the sea bed around the port which, of course, will be important, in terms of the recovery and rebuilding effort there in beirut. Let us now go live to beirut and our middle east correspondent, lina sinjab. Bring us up to date with the situation on the ground, the efforts to search for any more survivors and, of course, for those who have sadly died as well, because it is expected the death toll will rise. As you can hearfrom expected the death toll will rise. As you can hear from the sound around me, the sirens of the ambulances are going. 0ne ambulance is here to my right and many others are heading in and out of the port and still be in operation for searching for people, missing people under the rubble, is undergoing. Searching for people, missing people underthe rubble, is undergoing. It isa underthe rubble, is undergoing. It is a devastating time for lebanon as a whole but certainly for beirut, the capital, that was once believed to be the happy city of the middle east. Now its lying in devastation, in ruins and in rubble. The port is just this blog that you can see here behind me. The effect of this explosion has spread all over the country, more than 250,000 are now homeless and looking for help, for a place to stay in and also for food and aid. As you mentioned earlier, lots of international and regional aid has already arrived. The uk has also promised to send aid, humanitarian aid and also pledged 5 million uk pounds to help the lebanese government. This is a devastating situation for a country thatis devastating situation for a country that is already suffering a collapse in the economy. As we speak, im not sure if we can go to the shots yet, yes, images of the plane carrying the french president Emmanuel Macron. He has just arrived in beirut and we expect to see him leaving the plane in the next few moments to meet his lebanese counterpart. He hasnt stepped off yet. We are watching some people getting off the aircraft but we havent seen mr macron himself as yet. How important is this show of international support, not only from the french but from other countries, and how crucial will that be for the effort, given that this crucial piece of infrastructure in beirut itself has been decimated . Yes, its very important for lebanon. Lebanon has always had a great relationship with the International Community and also relied on aid a lot from international and regional powers. But france, the relationship with france, given the history of the mandate, is very powerful to ii and very strong ties to the Lebanese Society and the government as well. But in the past week, there has been tension because the French Foreign minister came to lebanon and basically said that any help or aid to lebanon should happen only if the government starts to really take measures to fight corruption and show transparency and basically said if you dont help yourself, we wont be able to help you. Now the situation has changed, now we are watching a big catastrophe and the french president also made it clear that he is coming here for solidarity with the lebanese people, so solidarity with the lebanese people, so the lebanese people dont feel like they are left alone in this terrible crisis. As much as there is compassion and solidarity from World Leaders and International Community towards lebanon, there is also frustration because of the performance of the lebanese government, who failed, after nine months of negotiation and talking to the imf and International Community, to produce or introduce any measures to produce or introduce any measures to rebuild confidence that the world can come and help out. But now today isa can come and help out. But now today is a different story, its a catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of people are in need of help, not only infrastructure but also humanitarian aid, so that is why the world is coming in. We have seen lots of humanitarian aid already arriving in many countries have already promised to send even more, but for the International Community, their concern is the lebanese people who are so angry at their own government and they are actually asking the International Community to bring the help directly to the people are not to go through the government. To that extent, people have lost confidence in their own leaders. 0k, lina, thank you for that. Lina sinjab in beirut. We are just waiting to see president macron emerging from the aircraft that has arrived in beirut in the last few moments. In fact, there he is, arriving to meet his lebanese counterpart and to express solidarity. The french one of a number of countries internationally offering aid to the lebanese in this time of need. Lina khatib is director of middle east and Northern Africa programme at the International Affairs think tank chatham house. Lina, thank you forjoining us today as we watch these images of Emmanuel Macron arriving in beirut. I want to begin, actually, speaking about aid, with the fact there is only one months supply of grain left. Lebanon is dependent on importing a lot of its Food Supplies and we are told because of damage to the port area and silos, they only had one month of grain left. How worried are you about that, in terms of food supply, you about that, in terms of food supply, Food Security for the country . It is certainly a worrying situation because lebanon relies on imports at the rate of 90 of its needs. Beiruts port is where lebanon got 80 of all its imports so that alone should give us an indication of the scale of humanitarian catastrophe thatis scale of humanitarian catastrophe that is looming in this country as a result of this blast. It is notjust grains but medical supplies, clothing, it is everything, really that lebanon will now suffer a shortage from, unfortunately. As much as the country is trying to respond to the immediate needs of the people affected by this massive explosion, people are also looking for answers. A number of port officials have been detained but it seems that the people of beirut, the people of lebanon, are very alert to the possibility of scapegoating. So the possibility of scapegoating. So the detention of these officials isnt going to satisfy everyone, is it . Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately, not just in lebanon but the middle east asa just in lebanon but the middle east as a whole, it is rather common for governments to scapegoat minor employees, junior employees, and leave the real culprits free. U nfortu nately, leave the real culprits free. Unfortunately, in lebanon it seems the Investigation Committee that is being set up includes, according to what i heard, the head of customs in lebanon. Now, in any country with investigative measures for Something Like this, such a person would be investigated rather than being included in investigations committee. So the lebanese people are very concerned that there is not going to be an open and transparent and credible investigation into what happened because, ultimately, state officials and non state actors are complicit in this tragedy that is happening in lebanon right now. So, the port wasnt under complete lebanese state oversight, in other words. How difficult do you think it is going to be to really get to the truth of this matter and how important is it that the country does get to the truth of this matter, in terms of the eventual rebuilding efforts . It is very important to get to the truth of the matter but that is why i personally think that state authorities are not interested in really uncovering the full truth, because this will show that they are responsible for what happened. Having explosive material, all potentially volatile material, stored at a port near residential neighbourhoods is not acceptable by any standards. The fact the Prime Minister of lebanon said this material had been there for six yea rs material had been there for six years speaks at the very least of negligence. Certainly speaks of corruption rampant in lebanon and this is nothing new for the lebanese people, who have been rising up against their government for several months now because they know that this government is corrupt and not delivering to its citizens. So i dont have much confidence that an investigation led by the lebanese state is going to really uncover the truth. There has to be an independent, International Investigation and any aid now coming to lebanon should come with conditionality, at the very least regarding necessary reforms and insistence on transparency and accountability. That is the only way forward for lebanon because otherwise we will just forward for lebanon because otherwise we willjust enter another cycle of cover ups. 0k, lina khatib, thank you very much for your thoughts on that. In the bank of englands First Official forecast since the coronavirus pandemic hit, it says an economic recovery in the uk has been earlier and more rapid than it had assumed in may, reflecting a sooner than expected easing of lockdown restrictions. It said spending on clothing and household furnishings was now back to pre covid levels, while consumers have carried on spending more on food and energy than before the lockdown. However, the bank of england says the uk economy is still set for its worst performance in more than 100 years. The bank expects the economy to shrink by 9. 5 in 2020. While this would be the biggest annual decline in a century, it compares with an initial estimate of a 14 contraction. The bank warned that the jobs Market Recovery would take longer as it held Interest Rates at 0. 1 . Unemployment is expected to rise to 7. 5 at the end of this year as government funded support schemes come to an end. That would mean an extra one Million People unemployed by the end of the year. But there was better news for next year. The bank of england expects the uk economy to grow by 9 in 2021, and 3. 5 in 2022. The economy is expected to get back to its pre covid size at the end of next year. Well, this morning the housing secretary robertjenrick was asked whether he thought the government was doing enough to support people this year as the economy contracted this year. I dont think any of us can underestimate or gloss over how difficult the present situation is. We wont be able to protect every job or every business. What we can do is bring forward the measures, which, as i say, are very significant, that the chancellors already announced, keep those under review as we always do and try to reopen the economy as swiftly as possible, in a safe and responsible manner. That, at the end of the day, is the way to safeguard and protect as manyjobs as possible. And for all of us, as i say, in our daily lives, to have the confidence to go out, as long as were following the social distancing measures, washing hands, staying a safe distance from other people, Wearing Masks in public places, in shops and so on. That sounds. If we follow that guidance then it is safe to go about our daily business and that is the best thing we can do to get spending and get demand back into the economy. Lets speak now to our business corresponent, ben thompson. Ben, not as bad as the bank thought earlier in the air. Its still not great and there is a great caveat from the bank of england about these predictions in its reports. Yes, you are absolutely right. Governments right around the world and Central Banks are looking at what they do when the worst of this pandemic is over. We have seen different governments have different responses. This is a view from the bank of england this morning about how we will play out across the uk. As you said, the headline, the message from the bank is yes, the downturn may be less severe but it may take a little longer than first forecast for things to pick up again to stop namely, they are talking about Economic Growth and the state of thejobs about Economic Growth and the state of the jobs market. About Economic Growth and the state of thejobs market. So about Economic Growth and the state of the jobs market. So there about Economic Growth and the state of thejobs market. So there had been some pretty drastic predictions for what the covid pandemic would mean for Economic Growth. Quite clearly, the uk economy entering a recession but the big question was how long it would last. The bank was initially, when at last gave us its update in may, hoping the economy would be sort of back to normal by the end of 2021. They have said actually, it may take a little longer but the pain may not be as severe in the shorter term. But remember, and as you touched on, there are so many caveats in this forecast because they have said it is unusually uncertain because there are so many moving parts and so many variables here. They point particularly to the potential for a Second National lockdown. That would have huge repercussions for Economic Growth and for ourjobs. But they have also talked about the danger of local lockdowns, affecting spending and growth in areas and remember, travel restrictions are still in place for many countries, which not only affect our ability to travel overseas but the overseas visitors to come to the uk and, quite crucially, spend money here. So with so many ifs, buts may bes, they are saying it might not be as bad as we first thought, the recovery might ta ke first thought, the recovery might take a little longer but be aware that all these predictions may come to nothing if some big seismic event changes things once again and we have seen the scale of the pandemic across the world affecting Economic Growth. Yes, things a little more optimistic right now but nonetheless there is still pain to come, particularly when we talk about the jobs market, current and expected to double by the end of the year, that unemployment rate, and we know the impact that that will have on Consumer Spending and confidence and the prospect of a global recession also weighing pretty heavily on many peoples mines. Ben, thank you very much. We can speak now to george buckley, chief uk economist co head of european economics at the Financial Service group nomura. He was previously Deutsche Bank 5 chief uk economist. George, thank you forjoining us. Given that uncertainty the bank of england cautions us to take heed of, do we need to proceed with caution when we look at the detail of what the bank is saying might happen over the bank is saying might happen over the next year or year and a half . Absolutely, and while we talk about these forecasts being better than these forecasts being better than the last time the bank of england provided a forecast, its worth bearing in mind that the Bank Actually thinks that gdp, the amount of output, well get back to levels we saw before the virus by the end of next year. That is fairly optimistic and equally so, the peak in unemployment, while 7. 5 is pretty high, especially when you compare it to where we are right now, which is around 4 , it is still a lot less than some other forecasters are expecting. I think the bank of england is relatively optimistic but as the bank says, there is a big caveat in all these numbers and that the huge amount of uncertainty makes it very, very difficult to forecast anything at the moment. On gdp and another point it makes, that most people on furlough will go back to theirjobs they had before they were put on furlough do you think that is a little bit optimistic, based on what you are hearing from employers, what are your thoughts on that . You are hearing from employers, what are your thoughts on thanm you are hearing from employers, what are your thoughts on that . It is difficult to know at the moment. We know employers are going to face increased costs if they decide to bring people back or if they decide to keep them on furlough, as the furlough scheme gets gradually unwound between this month and the end of october. If you look at some of the other forecast, like the 0ffice of the other forecast, like the office for budget responsibility, they are forecasting an average of 10 unemployment in their Scenario Analysis for next year. So it is substantially higher than what they bank of england thinks. Also, if you look at where the bank of england thinks unemployment will get to over the course of the next three years, they think it will fall back to 4 again. I think that is quite optimistic, again. We would be very happy to unemployment get back to current levels once it rises and falls again but i think that is very questionable whether we will see such optimism in the actual economic data. As you mentioned, the furlough scheme is due to wind up substantially in the autumn but lots of organisations, business organisations, trade unions etc are calling on the government to extend that furlough, especially in some sectors that really cant reopen properly yet. Can the government afford to do that . Well, its a very expensive scheme. If you look at the list, but a very good scheme of course, because it has saved a lot of peoples jobs which would have otherwise been lost given the lockdowns. If you look at the list of measures that the government has announced in its fiscal policies, this one tops the list, in terms of how much it costs. Equally, youve got to think what would have happened had the government not decided to implement that policy, yet still had the lockdowns . That might have been even worse because they would have to pay out unemployment benefits, there could be people who would be out of work for many years to come. At least in this situation they are able to mitigate it but they cant do it forever i think is the point to make. It is a very expensive scheme and it causes all sorts of issues when you start to run blanket schemes like this for a long period of time, in terms of incentives it offers to people in the economy. Ok, george buckley, chief uk economist at the Financial Service group no more, thank you very much. The government has published its proposals for a Major Overhaul of the Planning System in england. As part of the plans, new homes and hospitals will be granted automatic permission to be built in england but with a pledge to continue to protect green spaces. But critics argue power will be taken away from local communities and that a change to planning obligations will lead to a reduction in social housing. Under the new plans, available land will be designated as one of three types. The first of these is growth land will be approved for development at the same time that plans are prepared and as long as local Design Standards are met. Areas designated for renewal will be developed in a quick way, as long as it reflects community preferences. And land earmarked protection will continue to restrict development on green belt land, with specific policy remaining in the hands of local authorities. Lets cross to westminster, where our political correspondent, jessica parker, has more. Jessica, why is the government doing this at this point . They say simply that they have got to speed up the delivery of housing. That the Current System is too slow and sluggish and this is a complaint we have heard before and actually something that is slightly objected to by people like the local government association, who say the vast majority are planning is approved. I think that the heart of this debate Going Forward will be won around local democracy. At the moment, a local council can put a plan of where local housing and go, people can read in and then there are other applications are council look at. But these areas designated for growth, yes, the local plan will still be formulated in the government says local people will be consulted to see where those growth areas should be but once a bit of land is designated for growth, then there will be this automatic planning permission. So, in a sense, the argument against these proposals is that people are losing a chance to have a say later on down the line as to whether a Housing Project should go ahead. It was something that was put to the housing secretary, robertjenrick, that was put to the housing secretary, robert jenrick, this morning, as to whether one is an area of land has been designated for growth, so this automatic planning permission, is there anything any local people can do about it . Permission, is there anything any local people can do about it7m land had been allocated for development in a local plan and if the development met the planning guidelines today, set out in the National Planning policy framework and in law, then it would be very difficult indeed to stop the Development Going ahead. Of course, you might be able to put in an objection but a local person wouldnt have a great deal of influence and the Current System isnt actually having a lot of engagement. If you look at the stats, less than 1 of people contribute to a local plan making process because it is so slow and complicated and it is not digital, so complicated and it is not digital, so its very difficult for busy working people to engage. Labour had said it hads charter, these proposals. They are proposals at this stage, the consultation shall launches today and they say communities will be sidelined. The government say people will still have a say bit earlier on in the process and they want to be more sympathetic to the local design of the area, so that new Housing Developments really fit in with what local people want to see. But i thinkjust a quick other aspect of this, given we are talking a lot about the economy this morning, this is also part of the government because my drive, they say, to get the economy moving by speeding up the economy moving by speeding up the planning process you will get more houses built and morejobs created. Ok, jessica, thank you very much. Jessica parker at westminster for us. France has recorded its highest number of daily Coronavirus Infections in more than two months. Figures released on wednesday showed 1,695 new cases within 2a hours. France has the third highest death toll in europe, behind the uk and italy. The city of toulouse has introduced new rules requiring face masks to be worn in its busiest streets paris and a number of other cities are expected to follow suit. Further travel restrictions are being introduced in australia as the country tries to reduce the number of new Coronavirus Infections. From midnight, anyone taking a domestic flight from the state of victoria to New South Wales will have to self isolate in a hotel for 1h days, at their own expense. Its the latest in a series of new measures to curb a sharp rise