And caught fire. Criminals and the unemployed. Scot rail has confirmed compares protestors to the uk falls into the biggest they were the driver, recession on record the conductor and a passenger. As the economy contracts by more than 20 . The invisble challenge, wearing a face mask is having for people who depend on facial expressions to communicate. Now on bbc news. The democratic candidate for the us president ial election, joe biden, has officially unveiled his running mate, Kamala Harris, at a special event in the state of delaware. The california senator is the first black and Asian American woman on a president ial ticket our north america editorjon sopel was at the press conference and sent this report. Please welcome Vice President joe biden and senator Kamala Harris. In the city wherejoe biden started his career nearly half a century ago, he was back today to launch the ticket that he hopes will propel him and Kamala Harris to election victory in november, to be president and Vice President. Kamala, as you all know, kamala is smart, tough, experienced, she is a proven fighter for the backbone of this country. She is ready to do this job on day one. After the most competitive primary in history, the country received a resounding message, that joe was the person to lead us forward. And joe, im so proud to stand with you. Hi, hi, sorry to keep you. Thats all right. Are you ready to go to work . Oh, my god, i am so ready to go to work. The moment you find out from the bass youve got the job. Boss first of all, is the answer yes . The answer is absolutely yes. Joe bidens call to Kamala Harris ending months of speculation and creating history, the first african American Woman to run for president , all the more surprising given that she gavejoe biden hell during the race to become the democratic nominee. I do not believe you are a racist but i also believe, and it was personal and it was hurtful. But that is also the attraction. Do you solemnly swear to support. She was sworn in as a senator byjoe biden when he was still the Vice President. The former California Attorney general is tough, shes smart, and brought her prosecutorial skills to the senate, making life uncomfortable for a number of Senior Administration officials. Has the president or anyone at the white house ever asked or suggested that you open an investigation of anyone . Erm, i wouldnt. Yes or no . Could you repeat that question . And the hope of party strategists is that she will enthuse younger voters, African Americans and progressives. Donald trump is already sharpening his knife. I thought she was the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful, of anybody in the us senate. She is also known, from what i understand, as being just about the most liberal person in the us senate. Slow joe and phoney kamala, perfect together, wrong for america. The Trump Campaign has already christened her phoney kamala, a trojan horse for the radical left. But with the launch today and the messaging around it, joe biden and Kamala Harris are determined to define themselves, without any help from republican opponents. Jon sopel, bbc news, wilmington, delaware. Lets speak to our north america correspondent david willis. Our correspondent david willis. Landmark moment in w been our landmark moment in whats been an unusual president ial year so far given that we are in the middle of a pandemic. How much is Kamala Harris addition to the ticket a game changer . I think it could be. It certainly will energise the ticket. No question about that. We saw a very carefully choreographed event injoe bidens hometown of wilmington delaware. Kamala harris introduced for the first time. And as i mentioned, the biting campaign, ithink and as i mentioned, the biting campaign, i think looking for her to energise African American voters in particular. These are the people who are they natural constituency of the democrats. But havent turned out to vote in consistent numbers. Certainly in recent years was up certainly in recent years was up and didnt do so when Hillary Clinton ran four years ago. Today i should mention it marks the third anniversary of the rioting in charlottesville. The city in virginia which saw neo nazis and white supremacist to send on a rally. There were some injuries, one death. Joe biden said today that Donald Trumps response to that, when he said there were good people on both sides, very fine people on both sides, very fine people on both sides, had caused him, joe biden, to decide to run as president of the United States. And Kamala Harris condemned mr trumps mishandling as she put it of the coronavirus pandemic. She said america is crying out for leadership yet we have a president who cares more about himself than about the people who elected him. But of course, with about 80 days to go until the us president ial election. The real challenge for the democrats is to reach out to some of those swing voters. Those white, suburban women for example who went for donald trump in 2016. Absolutely. Interesting that Kamala Harris perhaps to the slight disappointment of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has been, as a former prosecutor you might expect her to be, quite tough on law and order. Shes since its slightly amended her stance. But that is something that could well appeal to moderate republicans and independent voters in the weeks running up to this election. But there is another thing at play here that is perhaps more significant big picture wise and that is the fact that if joe biden is elected he will be 78 years old when Inauguration Day comes around. There is a lot a speculation that he wouldnt then run for a second term. And that would leave Kamala Harris as the clear front runner to lead her party into the elections four years from now. Were getting as head of our massively but is potentially highly significant and what were seen going on at the moment. An interesting president ial year and there is plenty more to come. David thank you very much. Reports from belarus say people have again turned out in the capital, minsk, to protest against sundays election result, which was widely viewed as rigged. But the numbers on the streets appear to be smaller than on the previous three nights. Earlier demonstrators formed human chains and marched through several bela russian cities in defiance of the harsh clamp down by the security forces. For the latest on those protests i spoke to franak viacorka, a bela russian journalist, who joined us from minsk. Police forces and kgb using deadly lethal weapons against the protesters. We know at least three person killed and now we also know that some of those dead, they were not participating in the protest. So basically, most of them shooting was made arbitrarily. The soldiers that are brought to minsk streets, they are basically stopping, arresting and beating everyone they see. Also particularly i like to mention a special attitude to journalists that riot police stop journalists, smash their cameras and confiscate press cards. Its very difficult to get any reports or photos or any coverage from the field. Have you face any trouble yourself when you been out and about . No about my work is in front of computers. Im basically that user content. This is how we have all videos and pictures. Thousands of people are sending us pictures through telegram message. Thats the only service which is not blocked in belarus. Because facebook, google, youtube is not open. Telegram messaging you can send the content and also government cannot access your information. And for many people thats a very handy tool. Especially right now when they want to share content anonymously. Youre getting all course sources and for that where do you think this is heading . Are protesters going to continue to be out on the streets despite the fact that they are heavy handed tactics from the authorities . The president is in the crisis of legitimacy. He understand hes minority right now. Im sure he realises he lost the election. But he wants to win some time. This is why he mobilised all the army and the Law Enforcement in order to suppress the protest but i dont think it will give him much time. And i think it will put him in isolation by western countries. They will pose sanctions and that will be very, very tough time for him. We also see some signs that people from the government from authorities, they are switching. And they are supporting opposition. I just saw several reports today when officers of police, they say that they recognised the leader of unified opposition as the new president. They say that they will not obey orders from the president. This is spectacular. This is unique never before happened that the regime was crashing, the system he has built with all this super consolidated, super controlled. And right now hes losing their control over the situation and over the what he is built. The uk has fallen into its largest recession on record because of the coronavirus lockdown contracting by more than 20 between april and june in the biggest slump of any major global economy. The recession defined by six months in a row of falling output is the first since the 2008 financial crash. The chancellor rishi sunak said the figures confirmed that hard times were here and many more people were expected to lose theirjobs. Heres our economics editor faisal islam. This is a recession like no other, a consequence of having to shut the economy down. The result is an unprecedented hit. The hope that it proves to be short lived. At this somerset Outdoor Events manufacturer, what remains of dozens of music, sports and cultural events that never occurred. This shed would normally be completely empty at this time of year. Recovery here, far from assured. Its heartbreaking. In march, april and may time, it was really rough. You try to stay positive but for some of our staff, they couldnt stay with us long term and thats horrible. A fall of over 20 isnt just a record, its off all historical scales. The last recession, the great financial crisis of 2008 09, saw a worst three month fall ofjust over 2 . Go back through the entire history of official calculations and theres never been a fall bigger than 3 . I said that hard times were coming, and what todays numbers show is that hard times are here. Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost theirjob, and sadly many more will. In june, the economy did bounce back a bit, making up about a third of the shutdown slump. That can be seen here in bath, where only some of the lost International Tourism has been replaced by domestic tourists, tempted out by the chancellors cheap meals. Were maybe 35 40 of normal. In nearly four decades here, the local antiques shop has seen nothing like this. A shop here thats closed. I dont know when they are reopening. Another one there thats closed down. I think they have gone, and i dont think theyll be back. 0n the main street there are several. So people are holding on . Yeah. The government said they had a bridge to the other side. Not everyones going to make it, though . Not everyone will make it through. The official confirmation of the recession is no surprise, but the number reported this morning was simply staggering. A colossal hit to the economy affecting every high street and home up and down the country, mainly in march and in april. Since then, the economy has started to grow a bit again. But not all the lights that were switched off to protect Public Health will turn back on. While the recession was inevitable, it doesnt explain why the uk has been amongst the worst hit of major nations both in terms of health and the economy. This mornings number, the worst of the major g7 economies reporting so far, from france to the us, with canada and japan also forecast to confirm smaller hits. Are there not some questions about how your government has handled this, that we are bottom of both these tables . Social activities for example, going to have a meal, go shopping, go see a movie those kinds of activities comprise a much larger share of our economy than they do from most of our european cousins. The opposition said the recession showed the need to retain the furlough job scheme beyond autumn. We need to have targeted financial backing. We havent had that sufficiently yet from the conservative government and we really need it. I think until we have that, we will continue to see potentially a deeper recession in the uk than in other countries. But the chancellor adamant today that the scheme would not be extended and the economy and people would have to adapt, that some jobs would not return after this record pandemic recession. Faisal islam, bbc news, in bath. Let s get some of the day s other news an investigation is under way after three people died when a passenger train came off the rails on a flooded track in aberdeenshire in scotland and caught fire. Scotrail has confirmed they were the driver, the conductor and a passenger. The other six people on board have all been taken to hospital. The crash happened near the coastal town of stonehaven. Almost all the remaining oil on board a stranded cargo ship, which has been leaking fuel into the sea off the coast of mauritius, has now been removed. The Prime Minister said salvage crews had pumped more than three thousand tonnes of oil from the fuel reservoirs. Russia has dismissed mounting International Concern over the safety of its locally developed covid i9 vaccine as absolutely groundless. On tuesday, it said a vaccine had been given regulatory a pproval after less tha n two months of testing on humans. But a growing list of countries have expressed scepticism. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come the democratic president ial candidate, joe biden holds his First Campaign event with Kamala Harris a day after he unveiled her as his running mate. The big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. As the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. Idi amin, ugandas brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. Hes been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. Two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. It began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. This is bbc news, the latest headlines. Joe biden and Kamala Harris the Democratic Candidates for us president and Vice President , appear together in public for first time, as running mates. So lets stay with that story now. Joel k. Goldstein is emeritus professor of law at the saint louis university. I asked him what his thoughts are on Kamala Harris being picked asjoe bidens running mate. I think its an historic moment in american politics kamala. Its the first time that a president ial candidate whos had a better than 50 chance of winning has chosen a woman as his running mate. The two previous occasions when there was a woman on the ticket both instances were cases where the ticket was in desperate straits. And needed to sort of reshape the landscape. Its also the first time the person of colour has been on the ticket as the Vice President ial candidate. So its an historical moment in american history. I was struck by a comment thatjoe biden made. Of course former Vice President himself when they had the event earlier in delaware, he talked about what barack 0bama asked him hed like to do as Vice President and he said something about saying i want to be the last person in the room before making important decisions. How powerful can a Vice President be . The office is really changed. The constitution just gives the Vice President really two functions to preside over the senate and to be first in line of succession in case something happens to the president. But really, nowadays a Vice President almost never preside over the senate, most of their work is in the executive branch. Beginning with the presidency ofjimmy carter, vice presidency of walter mondale. Vice president s it really moved into the white house and become part of the president s inner circle. So he or she functions as an across the board adviser and a troubleshooter for the president. Vice President Biden was a very influential Vice President because as you say, he was the last person in the room. He had the chance, the last chance really, to change president 0bama is mind. He also took on important assignments from the president. How do you see the dynamic betweenjoe biden and Kamala Harris, given that only months ago they were slugging it out against each other for the democratic nomination. I think as with any sort of relationship, its a relationship that has to develop over time. And it has to develop based upon bidens leadership style, based on the trust that the two of them have in each other. Based on President Bidens sense that Vice President harris gives good advice and does a good job. And taken on the assignments given to her. Some Vice President s have influenced because the president has bought that their advice wasnt particular good. Others like biden saw their influence go up during their service. It really remains to be seen how they will do. Joe biden has hinted that if he was to win would only end up serving one term already full top that changes the nature of his candidacy as well. Well, it could mean, the Vice President sees the best president ial springboard. It could give a Vice President harris advantage in running for president in 202a. It also could affect the relationship between the two of them if the Vice President is focused on running for president. Not on being Vice President. So there is a lot to watch and to be determined. About 80 days to go until the president ial election. We have much more about the race on our website. Including this profile of Kamala Harris. Around the world people are having to adjust to wearing a face mask to limit the spread of coronavirus. They may help to keep us safe but they also hide our smiles. So how can we adapt to a world where facial expressions are invisible and what challeneges could that pose for some people . Heres drjo lane, a Research Fellow and clinical psychologist at the Australian National university. Faces give us a lot of information in our social interactions. And things like facial identity. We recognise people by their face and when we wear face mass everyone looks the same. Facial expressions, we look at peoples faces to see their mood or how they are feeling. And we also look at faces to help with speech. We look at lips for lip reading. So that is all different now that were wearing facemask. But there lots of things we can do. For identity, we can use other cues like their hair or their voice or i know some Health Care Professionals are wearing name badges. And photographs on their gown just to see who they are. Facial expressions, thats a little bit more complex. Because we normally look at the whole face. Unfortunately, we can only see the eyes. From the eyes we can work out where someone is looking and if theyre engaged. But we need to be aware that some cultures find at eye contact offensive. The other thing we can look for around the eyes, when somebody is smiling and giving a genuine smile as opposed to a social or polite smile, but when we give a genuine smile we get squints around the eyes. So we can look out for that behind the mask. But we also have to do some more cues around engagement. The smile really tells us that someone is friendly and approachable. We have to do things like have open body language, small talk and acknowledge the person. And for speech. Thats a really complex on because people with hearing loss look at lips for lip reading. But we all look at lips in noisy environments. And when our language is not the same is with who we are communicating with. So it is important to go to a quiet location, talk clearly and slowly and use simple language. And use interpretation devices if required. There are facemask that are clear so we can avoid those issues. And they are good for people with hearing loss or language difficulties or people who feel anxious in social situations. One final thing, its really important to smile behind the mask. Because smiling releases neurotransmitters in our brain that make us feel good and help us with our social interactions. And hopefully the person where communicating with will see through our eyes and the squints around her eyes that we are happy to see them. So, its all about talking with our eyes now . Yeah, talking with our eyes. It has to be a genuine smile though most of also using more body language, open body language. Nodding, waving a nice tone of voice and if youre not sure how somebodys feeling, just asking them how are you feeling today is not ok joe how do you say goodbye to me with just your eyes then . Well, i can give you a nice smile and thank you for the time today. I can wave to say goodbye. A reminder of our top story. Joe biden and Kamala Harris have been setting out their vision for the United States in their first joint appearance since he chose her as his Democratic Party running mate for novembers election. Mr biden said he had no doubt he had picked the right person to help him rebuild the country. Ms harris said america was crying out for leadership as it reeled from Public Health and Economic Crises caused by president trumps mishandling of the pandemic. Goodbye for now. Hello. Wednesday brought a real mishmash of weather across the British Isles, a lot of heat and humidity again and yet, in the saint ives and a number of coastal areas were plagued with low cloud and fog and then, as the day wore on, so the thunderstorms popped off and that prospect is there again through thursday, hot and humid weather with that risk of thunderstorms, especially so, although not exclusively across the southern half of the British Isles because this overall set up of the low pressure with the heat from the continent and the moisture from the surrounding seas is still the dominant feature. And we start with the temperature somewhere in the teens for many, if not twenty degrees in one or two spots in the southeast and from the word go, there could well be some thunderstorms for central and southern parts of england getting across the border into wales. Quite a bit of mirk there to the eastern side of the penines, effecting some of the east and Northern Counties of scotland. Best of the sunshine out west. Later on, pushing the temperatures 22 similar sort of prospect in parts of Northern Ireland and somewhere again and central and southern parts of england will be pushing close to 30 degrees and the thunderstorms continue apace. There are warnings from the met office already about the potential for disruption from those storms. In fact, that continues right on into friday as well and another mirky, muggy night to come, widely across the British Isles. Friday, a really cloudy start with a shield of cloud coming in from the north sea to affect many areas only beginning to break as we get on into the afternoon. And still that prospect, particularly across southern britain of some really quite sharp thunderstorms. Temperatures beginning to fall back in touch but it will still feel very close, very oprpressive, simply because that overall situation really not changing, even as you move towards the weekend. Southern britain still at risk from these thunderstorms. Further north, it should be dry, thanks to the influence of the high pressure. But again, some of these northern and eastern facing coast could well be affected by some low level mistand mirk, which will temper the feel of the day. But with some sunshine in the north youll be looking at 22, possibly 23 degrees. And we dont really change things even as we push right through the weekend and into the start of the forthcoming week. 00 28 35,136 4294966103 13 29,430 take care, bye bye