Strongly denies slapping amber heard, when they were married. Hello and welcome. It is so often called the worlds worst humanitarian crisis, and then it gets worse. In yemen, United Nations aid agencies are warning they still have nowhere near the resources needed to fight the looming threat of famine, in a country already ravaged by 5 years of war and disease, now struggling with a surge in coronavirus deaths. With the medical system already devastated, covid 19 is spreading virtually unchecked. Nawal a maghafi has been speaking to those bearing the brunt of yemens latest crisis. There are no daily briefings about covid 19 in yemen. Allahu akbar. All allahu akbar. No accurate statistics, and barely any tests. But every day, there are the dead, buried quietly in the early hours of the morning. Among the buried on that day in sanaa was mohammed al kuhlani. A few weeks ago, we spoke to him and his friends as they worryingly followed the pandemic news. Translation if the virus reaches yemen, they wont be able to count the dead. Yemenis mix a lot. We need to raise awareness. We need to teach people how to keep safe at home. The disease was already spreading silently throughout homes in yemen, including mohammeds. His family said his death was of a respiratory infection. It had all the hallmarks of coronavirus. Now we learn that mohammeds father and several members of the family have lost their lives with the same symptoms. This is his cousin days before he died. None of the deaths have been reported as coronavirus related. Six years of war has destroyed half of the countrys Health System in the conflict between the houthis and a saudi uae led coalition, supported by the uk and the us. I met dr ashwag on several milestones during the yemeni conflict, during the famine, cholera and now covid 19. The suffering only gets worse, she says. Translation i go to people with hand sanitiser and i tell them to stay at home. They tell me, doctor, dont scare us with the disease. Were dying of hunger anyway, we need to eat. What options do we have . Its a tragic situation. It is coronavirus or hunger. Protective gear is not a priority for a population where two thirds dont know where their next meal is coming from. And the international community, distracted with its own crisis, is turning its back. A un fundraising summit raised only half the amount needed to keep its life saving programmes running. For months, there have been warnings of coronavirus sweeping silently in yemen. Now the pandemic is here and is exacting its deadly toll unchecked. Nawal al maghafi, bbc news. Us Vice President mike pence says the us has recorded more than 3 million coronavirus infections, more than any other country in the world. To put that in international comparison, its significantly higher than brazil and russia which have recorded the second and third most cases. And it means the us alone has recorded more infections than both asia and the entire european continent, which were once global epicentres for the virus. Of course this figure doesnt take into account differences in testing rates. Here was mike pence speaking at the Coronavirus Task force briefing. At this point, we have tested more than 39 million americans. Among those, more than 3 million americans have tested positive and more than 1. 3 million americans have recovered. Sadly, more than 133,000 americans have lost their lives, and our sympathies are with all of the impacted families, and while we mourn with those who mourn, because of what the American People have done, because of the extraordinary work of our healthcare workers around the country, we are encouraged that the average fatality rate continues to be low and steady. For more on this, im joined by drjason bae, medical director of Prealize Health and an urgent care physician in Northern California. At the moment in Northern California, i know you worked in new york, you dont even normally work in emergency care, you are drafted in because of the pandemic. Thats correct. Well, thank you very much for giving us some of your time. Because of testing rates, i guess its very likely these pretty horrible figures are in under isnt it . Thanks for having me, mike. The testing rates are definitely going up but we also know that there are many patients who are actually not getting tested. Despite the high numbers and what we know is, the testing positivity rates are actually going up at the same time which suggests there are many more infections that are out there, that we are seeing. From the confirmed numbers. Why is this and what you expect the picture to be Going Forward . Its not very surprising that these surges are happening across the United States. In many states, the economy really started opening before we had big control of the virus. We didnt really have infrastructure in place to detect and control new outbreaks. So is states reopened and people start to hang out more, you are expected to see more cases spring up in different parts of the country. In terms of what to expect, u nfortu nately in terms of what to expect, unfortunately what we know is that after the new cases and infections, usually the hospitalisation follows and my friends in texas are saying their Hospital Capacity will reach the Maximum Capacity very, very soon and i expect those numbers will also rise. I would not be surprised at all if the numbers in the us surpassed 3000 per day by august. And how does what you are seeing in california compare with what you saw in new york . So right now, fortu nately we new york . So right now, fortunately we do have enough capacity in Northern California where i am practising. In the rate of increase has not been too bad but if the rate continues, rate of hospitalisation continues at this rate, we may reach a capacity at some point pretty soon capacity at some point pretty soon as capacity at some point pretty soon as well. So much of this seems, quite apart from testing, seems to come down to the way that masks and distancing have become such an issue and that politicians seem to be at odds with scientists, with medics. I think its been very, very fortunate how this has really become a political issue more than a Public Health issue more than a Public Health issue and i think what we know issue and i think what we know is that universal masking and Wearing Masks in Public Places and social distancing really does work well and we can see the examples of Asian Countries that have recorded really less than 300 deaths in the case of south korea so i think we should really kind of go back to the basics of wearing a mask and social distancing and get this pandemic under a control. You see all this great detail firsthand. With your colleagues, how are you all . Are you hopeless with the way this is going . So there is definitely a sense of exasperation, of really feeling like some of our politicians and leaders not really understanding the challenges and just the tragedy that is happening in front of our eyes. But also at the same time, i remain hope will because i think the conversation around masks are really moving forward from hey, should we wear a mask to hey, lets all wear a mask and this is really important and this is really important andi and this is really important and i think as people are really understanding and seeing people with covid i9 in their friends and families, im hopeful that people really take this seriously and we will be able to control this pandemic for its too late. If you could talk directly to the president or the Vice President or indeed tojoe biden, or the Vice President or indeed to joe biden, if or the Vice President or indeed tojoe biden, if they are watching, what would you say . would watching, what would you say . |j would say there are a lot of lives that stake here and we really should put science and Public Health and peoples lives really before anything else and i think we should, and i think that would be really my main message. Drjason bae, thank you so much for your time. People in melbourne, australia are waking up to a depressing sense of deja vu. The city is back under lockdown, thanks to a recent spike in virus infections. 5 Million People have been ordered to stay home except for essentials such as shopping, unavoidable work or caregiving. Wednesday was the third day in a row that the state of victoria recorded more than 100 cases. 75 of those infections are linked to this group of Public Housing towers in melbourne. They have been placed under ha rd lockdown which means residents cannot leave the buildings at all. Australias overall covid numbers are comparatively small nearly 9. 000 cases. Thats less than california recorded in one single day this week. But Australian Authorities say they are determined to stop the spread going any further. Abc news reporter, Steven Schubert joined me from melbourne a short time ago. Today is the first day of this new stage of lockdown just for melbourne. So unlike when australia was last in lockdown, when the whole country really was all in it together, this time its just melbourne, and there are police road checks at the outskirts of melbourne stopping people coming in. Now, we understand that they are providing some leniency today, for the first day, so if you show up at the road check and you dont have a valid excuse, you are being turned around. But theyre saying that window of leniency is closing, and it wont be long until youre issued with fines, and that fine is 1,600 australian dollars, so it would definitely sting. 0n the towers behind me, on the front there, this is unprecedented in australia. This is a hard lockdown. These people havent been allowed to leave their homes at all since sunday, so hopefully there will be some news for them today. The State Government here in victoria is saying that the testing is now complete in the towers, and they will be having some news about the easing of those restrictions fairly soon. Seeing some pushback, i think, steven, especially from people in Public Housing, that they seem to be seeing more of police than Health Workers or social workers. Concern, ithink, about the way this lockdown is being implemented. Yes, certainly at the start, mike. I was here on monday, which was the first full day of the lockdown, and the Police Presence here was enormous. The State Government here was talking about how they had 500 police on every shift monitoring the towers here and another site in north melbourne, which is not far away from where i am. Now, that works out to one Police Officer for every six residents. And the police were the first on the scene here, not Health Workers, not social workers, so there was some criticism for that. And we have to keep in mind too that the make up of the people in these towers are largely immigrant families, people who dont speak english as theirfirst language, people who might have an inherent distrust in police or government authorities due to where theyve come from. So yes, some pretty strong criticism when this was set up, but i have to say, the Police Numbers are much lower here today. Whether thats indicative that the lockdown may be easing, we will have to wait until this afternoon australian time to find out. And just very briefly, steven, seeing very strong restrictions being announced by queensland. Yes, another australian state, queensland, has announced that they dont want any victorians. They wont be allowing any victorians into their state. Were becoming something of a pariah state here in victoria. The border to new south wales, which is immediately to the north of victoria, is closed for the First Time Since the spanish flu. So we cant travel anywhere outside of the state here, and if youre in melbourne, you cant travel anywhere out of melbourne. So that is quite a historic decision. Stay with us on bbc news. Still to come six kids, lots of homework butjust one phone. How a new project in the uk is helping get digital devices to those in need. Central london has been rocked by a series of terrorist attacks. Police say there have been many casualties, and there is growing speculation that alqaeda was responsible. Germany will be the hosts of the 2006 football world cup. Theyve pipped the favourites, south africa, by a single vote. In south africa, the possibility of losing hadnt even been contemplated, and celebration parties were cancelled. A man entered the palace through a downstairs window and made his way to the queens private bedroom. Then he asked herfor a cigarette, and on the pretext of arranging for some to be brought, she summoned a footman on duty, who took the man away. One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Applause this is bbc news. The latest headlines after years of civil war, yemen faces a crippling fight against the covid pandemic, with little medical care and almost no testing. The number of coronavirus cases in the United States has passed 3 million, with over 130,000 american fatalities, but the white house is pushing hard to reopen schools. The hollywood actorjohnny depp has denied slapping his ex wife, amber heard, on the second day of his high profile libel action at the high court in london. He is suing the publisher of the sun, news Group Newspapers, and its executive editor, dan wootton, over an article published in 2018 which called him a wife beater. He strongly denies the allegations. David sillito was in court. Johnny depp arriving at court for day two of his case against the the publishers of the sun newspaper. Reporter johnny, johnny it was this article, and the headline that described him as a wifebeater, that led to him suing for libel. The claims of violence were made by his former wife, amber heard, who arrived today at court to watch proceedings. It was a day of questioning about his drinking, his drug use, his addictions, even his friendship with stars such as marilyn manson. Amber heard says there is withinjohnny depp a monster that is released by drink and drugs, that leads to violence, something which he strenuously denies. Photos were shown of the star. He has made no secret of his struggles with drink and drugs, but he says he wasnt violent. He was asked about an argument in march 2013. It was put to him, you slapped her across the face. He said thats untrue. Questioning continued. You slapped her three times. He responded, that is patently untrue. You started crying and apologising and saying it would never happen again. He answered, it didnt happen. The court heard details of the couples arguments, his addiction to painkillers, as well as recordings and text messages. News Group Newspapers says there is overwhelming evidence to support their claim that he was violent towards his former wife. And thats whyjohnny depp has brought this case to try to clear his name. David sillito, bbc news. An update from the serbian capital. Police have used teargas to capital. Police have used tea rgas to clear capital. Police have used teargas to clear protesters gathered in front of the national assembly. They have seen national assembly. They have seen protests over the announcement that coronavirus restrictions could be renewed. A final decision is expected on thursday. The prospect of mass unemployment and a prolonged economic crisis in the wake of the pandemic has prompted the british chancellor to unveil a series of measures amounting to £30 billion. Rishi sunak set out the details in his summer statement to the house of commons. 0ur Political EditorLaura Kuenssberg reports. Radio good morning, its 6 00 on wednesday 8july. Where we live now a place to work. Where we travel now full of abandoned platforms. A different look where we spent our money. Where we shop still often shuttered up. The reality millions ofjobs are at risk, so where the decisions about the economy are made. The chancellor might be forgiven for glancing nervously at the cameras. Speaker chancellor of the exchequer. Rishi sunaks words awaited far and away from this chamber. People are anxious about losing theirjob, about unemployment rising. Were notjust going to accept this. People need to know that, although hardship lies ahead, no one will be left without hope. The government will not keep paying the wages of millions of people whose jobs have been on hold past the autumn. Leaving the furlough scheme open forever gives people false hope that it will always be possible to return to the jobs they had before. So today, were introducing a new policy to reward and incentivise employers who successfully bring furloughed staff back. A newjobs retention bonus. 0ur message to business is clear. If you stand by your workers, we will stand by you. Perhaps as much as £9 billion for businesses who make it. A cut to stamp duty and, for parts of the economy shuttered by the crisis, a big cut in vat. The bestjobs programme we can do is to restart these sectors and get our pubs, restaurants, cafes and b bs bustling again. So ive decided for the next six months to cut vat on food, accommodation and attractions. Complete with, for the first time, an offer to entice you to spend. For the month of august, we will give everyone in the country an eat out to help out discount. But the chancellor has his eye on a lot more than helping you with a holiday meal deal. It is an unambiguous choice to make this moment meaningful for our country in a way that transcends the frustration and loss of recent months. It is a plan to turn our National Recovery into millions of stories of personal renewal. He can offer. Hello . The chancellor cant know if business will really bring back all of their staff. Is that what you ordered . No can he tempt you back to the still empty spaces where much of the country makes its living, and will coronavirus roar back to ruin his plans . The very first thing the chancellor must do is prevent additional economic damage due to the slow Public Health response of his government. As weve seen throughout this crisis, the failure to match soaring rhetoric with meaningful action has consequences for people across our country. Politicians can try to lure the economy back to life, but its business that will really determine how far the economy falls. Companies are going to be faced with making hard decisions about laying people off, knowing that recovery is going to take time. You think about the hospitality industries, think about tourist businesses. In many respects, theyre going to be facing three winters. Theyve come through the winter, theres not much thats happening for them today, and were going into the winter later on this year. They need support right through to the spring of 2021, and if not, theyre going to be making people redundant. I dont think this meets the moment. Weve got an historic economic recession, and thats linked to the Climate Change challenge. Then theres going to be the challenge of brexit. This is a massive challenge for our economy, and the liberal democrats would like a much bigger package. For now, the tories are willing to borrow and spend in a way that labour might be more comfortable with, but a different tory chancellor put a marker down. Interest rates will not stay low forever, and eventually, we will need to bring down our National Debt under control, in order to sustain a recovery and continue to create jobs and to keep taxes low. Closed doors have cost the economy dear. Jobs disappearing day by day. The chancellor promised big cheques to prevent the worst, but today was about how to spend, not about how to pay. Laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. For many children in lockdown, going to school has meant going online. But in the uk, around 700,000 students have missed out on schoolwork because they dont own a computer or even have internet access. A new programme is trying to change that by getting donated computer equipment to those who need it most, as fiona lamdin reports. Homeschooling. Can i borrow your phone, please, mum . Thank you. This family in swindon, like thousands, having to learn without a computer. It takes forever, and it stresses you out, and then ijust end up giving up and not doing it. Do you feel like youre falling behind . Yeah, a lot. Because im not getting as much help as i should be. I just cant, like, focus properly. And it sometimes it crashes. Im finding it very, very stressful, and to be honest, sometimes i find it too much, so ijust dont do any work at all. And its a similar story for 14 year old charlie, who is in foster care. He is doing his gcses next year. Im worrying a lot about going back to school, having detentions after detentions for not doing the work. But what weve seen is an exaggeration due to covid. Nick runs 31 schools, and has 2,500 students who dont have a computer at home. Across the uk, hundreds of thousands of young people are disadvantaged digitally. Theyre disadvantaged emotionally, financially, socially. But the it divide has grown bigger as a result of covid. But now, people are donating the computers, laptops and tablets they no longer need. Is that a dinosaur . The holgate family were also struggling six children, all sharing mums phone. But a donated tablet has helped. What difference has it made having another device in the house . Weve been able to do, like, loads of homework. And weve been sharing like, sharing better. Whereas before, i think they were falling behind a little bit, but now theyre on track. Daddy the government says it is committed to reopening schools in september, but many families are worried that by then, the gap will be too big. Fiona lamdin, bbc news. Much more for you on all the news, national and international, any time on the bbc news website and on our twitter feeds. Thank you so much for watching. Hello again. There were two very different types of weather across the uk during wednesday. Its a similar setup as we go into thursday. In the south, weve got lots of low cloud. This was borth on cardigan bay during wednesday afternoon. To the north of that, weve got a showery regime, much more sunshine around. And the divider is this area of low pressure. So keeping all parts unsettled, but its been bringing in heavy and persistent rain during the course of wednesday night. And that heaviest rain yes, it will be clearing out of the way, but it leaves a legacy of those weather fronts, misty, low cloud. Its pretty humid, as well, with that by the front across the southern half of the country a tad chillierfurther north. But lots of misty, low cloud, hill and coastal fog to clear first thing. 0r certainly the rain clears, but that misty, low cloud is likely to hang around for much of the day. So dull and overcast, damp and dreary, and very little changes. Of course, it wont be raining all day. Therell be some drier slots, as we had during the day on wednesday, and its still quite warm 19 20 degrees, generally speaking. We might see some of the brighter skies filter into the north of england later. Just the odd shower for northern ireland, with some sunny spells. Sunny spells across scotland. But given the light winds, when the showers develop, they could become heavy and thundery and slow moving. So quite a lot of rain falling in a shortish space of time from those thunderstorms. But equally, either side of them, plenty of sunshine. And those will translate into clearer skies as we go through thursday night, as those thunderstorms rumble out. And that clearer weather is gradually filtering southwards. So not quite as humid through the night ahead, more comfortable for sleeping. More sunshine, therefore, on offer as we go into friday. But a brisker wind, and that wind comes down from the north west, and it will make it feel cooler, and notably so in the south, although therell be more sunshine to compensate. But equally, as you can see, lots of showers. Theyll be heavy, as well, running southwards on that north westerly breeze. They do tend to dampen down any activity towards the west later. Why . Because weve got the azores high moving in, and thats with us for the weekend, just with the risk of more rain coming into the north west of the uk come sunday. So for many, were lifting our temperatures a little, as well, with more sunshine and lighter winds across the south. In the north, still predominantly dry, but potentially some rain in the north west later. This is bbc news. The headlines the United Nations has warned that its aid agencies dont have the resources they need to fight the looming threat of famine in yemen ravaged by five years of conflict and disease, and now struggling with the coronavirus spreading virtually unchecked. Coronavirus infections in the United States have now passed 3 million, significantly more than any other country in the world. There have been at least 133,000 american deaths from covid 19. But the Trump Administration is pushing hard to re open schools. The president has threatened to withdraw funding from schools which do not. 5 Million People in australias second largest city, melbourne, have been ordered to stay home for six weeks because of a major spike in infections. Queensland is closing its borders to anyone resident in victoria