A law which restricted welcome. Two stark statistics to begin with. The global death toll from covid 19 has passed half a million. The number of infections has passed 10 million. And im afraid were told this is only the start. Heres the latest from the who. Reality is this is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress, globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up. Heres another way to illustrate the severity of the pandemic. This reuters Analysis Shows us that injune more than 4,700 people died every 2a hours from covid 19 linked illness. Thats one death every 18 seconds, or nearly 200 deaths every hour. America remains the worst affected, by far. It has the most deaths, the most infections. 125,000, and 2. 5 million respectively. This graph tells us that the new infection rate are being fuelled by outbreaks in the west and the south of the us. Two states, South Carolina and nevada, saw their highest daily infection date over the weekend. And because of these kind of figures, some states are tighten restrictions. This is the governor of texas on sunday. We need to understand that covid 19 has taken a very swift and dangerous turn in texas overjust the past few weeks. This is what the governor is referring to. The number of daily cases in texas has jumped from 2000 to over 5000. Texas has recorded over 150,000 cases. Go back two months ago when the state began reopening, that figure was around 30,000. Well now restrictions are coming back. These bars were told to close on friday. And restaurants have been told cut their dining capacity. And public gatherings are now limited to under 100 people. Vice president mike pence was in texas over the weekend dallas to be precise. He promised more testing kits and he had this advice. Wear a mask, wherever it is indicated, or wherever you are not able to practice the kind of social distancing that would prevent the spread of the coronavirus. And we would strongly reiterate that today. I know that roughly half the state is under local ordinances, stocky recommend if your local officials are in consultation with the state andi are in consultation with the state and i directing you to wear a mask, we encourage everyone to wear a mask. Remember that while the authorities advise mask wearing, President Trump refuses to wear one. Now, from texas to california it too has had to bring back some restrictions. The announcement came via a tweet from the governor. Bars closing in 7 counties. And bars outside those areas have also been advised to shut. And he released a statement saying. Thats certainly the case for los angeles. Its seen a big surge in infections. The la times reports nearly 100,000 infections in total thats far more than anywhere else in the state. A similar story is playing out on the opposite coastline. Here are floridas statistics. Saturday brought a new record for a daily number of infections. And the surge in cases brings the total number to over 140,000. There are of course many questions about why this is happening. One theory is that there was a rush to socialise. The New York Times reports. And this is important Florida State Officials Say the average age of people being infected now is 36. Two months ago, that figure was 65. Its certainly true that when florida reopened people rushed to its beaches. This was miami a couple of weeks ago. These beaches have been ordered to close forjuly 11th celebrations. State wide alcohol sales are already banned for the moment. That will continue to was the holiday weekend. One argument being made by floridas governor is that high cases numbers are to do with high rates of testing. Bbc monitorings luis fajardo is in miami. Tell us more about how many restrictions will be returned in florida. Change of tone from the authorities, the state governor has suspended things, but 7; a statewide requirement to ordered a state wide requirement to wear masks. He had left that to individual cities, counties, and many of them have. For example, in miami, wherei many of them have. For example, in miami, where i am, theres now an audit to wear masks. Also, very co ntroversially audit to wear masks. Also, very controversially injacksonville, which is going to be the site of the Republican National Convention Final night later in the summer. An order to wear masks. So it changes across the state, but i say that most authorities now in florida have realised the seriousness of the situation and although only a few weeks ago they were describing the situation is improving, now they are demanding a lot of caution from citizens and now i would say citizens and now i would say citizens are moving in that direction as well. Presumably tourism is a huge factor for florida and understandably lots of people in the state need the tourists to keep theirjobs the state need the tourists to keep their jobs afloat . The state need the tourists to keep theirjobs afloat . Certainly, that is one of the things that the governor argued when he was calling for a reopening of the state only a few weeks ago. Something like 130 million tourists visit every year. Florida are responsible for nearly more than1 florida are responsible for nearly more than 1 million jobs florida are responsible for nearly more than1 millionjobs in florida, so it is a Huge Industry of course and a lot of people were making the argument that it was indispensable for floridas economic stability to reopen as soon as for floridas economic stability to reopen as soon as possible. Of course, the governor was also promoting the state of florida as a site for many events that were not going to be able to be somewhere else in the country, for example the nba, which is due to happen later on in orlando. So a great deal of Economic Issues around tourism in florida, which explains why the governor was so eager to open the state. As ever, thank you very much for your help. Now lets move away from the us and look at countries which have controlled the virus to a large degree, but continue to face localised outbreaks. For example, in mid june, china had a spike of new cases in beijing, after almost two months without any. We know from that the government is willing to reintroduce local lockdowns. We saw that again on sunday, with the reinstatement of lockdown in a county south of beijing. This will affect around 400,000 people and Officials Say the county will be fully enclosed and controlled. Now this county has only had 18 confirmed cases in the last two weeks, but because its so close to beijing, the authorities are taking no chances. Now from china to germany authorities there have extended a lockdown in and around the city of gutersloh. This is all connected to an outbreak that infected thousands and is linked to this Meat Processing factory. And this is the first example of a local lockdown since germanys nationwide lockdown lifted in early may. As this article in the Daily Telegraph suggests, some are looking to germanys reaction as a template for what it calls the new normal. Our Health Correspondent nick triggle puts it this way. Which brings us to the uk its new infection rate is not as low as china and germany and local lockdowns are already being considered. Pubs and restaurants in the city of leicester may stay closed for two more weeks due to a surge in cases there. Heres the Prime Minister earlier. We are not out of the woods yet. It is very important, we are making these cautious, calibrated steps. We are opening as much of hospitality as we can onjuly the 4th, as much of the economy as we can, some things still remain closed until they can become covid 19 a secure, but to make all that possible, we have to be and remain vigilant, we have to be and remain vigilant, we have to be and remain vigilant, we have to continue to do the basics, washing our hands and all that, plus we need to have local lockdown is and local strategies where that is possible. The Governments Health secretary has been talking to officials this afternoon were expecting an update in the next hour. Now despite local flare ups, countries around the world are feeling their way to something at least closer to normal life. In many cases, that includes being able to travel again. The uk plans to create so called air bridges or travel corridors with a number of countries, it will announce later this week. This would mean people travelling to and from these countries would no longer have to quarantine for two weeks. Heres the bbcs transport correspondent tom burridge. The government plans to have this traffic light system, so countries will be rated either green, amber or red. Green will mean that the infection rate of the virus is significantly lower than here in the uk, amber will mean there is a similar dynamic of the virus in that country to the uk but it will mean you will not have to self isolate for 1h days after you return from an amber country, but people travelling in from amber country, but people travelling infrom a amber country, but people travelling in from a red country will be subject to the quarantine rules. In terms of exactly which countries will find out on wednesday, but if you look at this list of countries, a lot of European Countries will be on that list, we are expecting most of these countries to be on the list, certain countries like spain, france, italy, big holiday destinations, are almost certain to be on the list. Well you might have noticed greece had been expected to be on that list well see if that holds. Earlier it announced that a ban on all flights from the uk and sweden has been extended tojuly 15th because of the severity of the outbreaks there. So, clearly this is not going to be a consistent reopening across europe none the less for many destinations, it is time to prepare for visitors. One of them is the spanish resort town of torremolinos. Damian grammaticas is there. They will find at the airport there is no need to do quarantine here, spain lifted that a week ago. All you have to do is go to a Temperature Check and fill out your travel details for the past few days and the coming a few days. When you get here then, you will find on the beaches they are open, ready, the sun loungers have been spaced apart. There are wardens on the beach keeping it social distancing here. In the hotels, many are not open at the minute because they are waiting for those flights to resume before they will open up and in the hotels, too, the ones that are open have procedures in place. They are limiting numbers in swimming pools. The restaurant are the same, many are open but again it social distancing there and if you go outside and spain, you will have to wear a face mask anywhere there is people within one metre and a half, so different rules in Different Countries and everyone waiting for that announcement. Its struck down an abortion law in louisiana. Anti abortion campaigners had hoped the recent appointments by donald trump of two conservative judges would swing the decision in their favour but it wasnt to be. In a statement White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany called the outcome unfortunate and said that the Supreme Court devalued both the health of mothers and the lives of unborn children by gutting louisianas policy. Barbara plett usher has more. This was a willing that was watched very closely because it is the first major Abortion Case that has been decided by the Supreme Court since President Trump pointed to conservative justices to the bench which basically shifted it to the right. Many people were wondering whether it would move on against abortion rights and the test case was this louisiana law which placed the new regulations on abortion clinics. Essentially it said that an abortion doctor should have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital in case something went wrong. But the opponents had argued that this was an undue burden on a womans rights to abortion because it was difficult to make this kind of arrangement, the women did not need it anyway for the health and it could cause abortion clinics to close. It is interesting because almost an identical law had come up four years ago in texas and at that time the Supreme Court had struck it down as unconstitutional. But as i said, the court had changed so eve ryo ne said, the court had changed so everyone was wondering what would happen. What happened is that the chiefjustice, who was a conservative, decided to strike down the louisiana law, also because he said a president had been set in texas and he was voting to appal the legal president. No Big Decisions had been made, does not mean the courts will chip away at the bottom right in the future, but it is a big step forward for abortion activists. Stay with us on oustide source, still to come the Uns World Food Programme warns that 1 million syrians are on the brink of starvation. A man accused of stabbing three men to death in a park in reading has appeared in court on charges of murder and attempted murder. Khairi saadallah, whos 25, was remanded in custody. Heres our Home Affairs Correspondent daniel sandford. The chief magistrate, emma arbuthnot, was sitting here at Westminster Magistrates Court in london, but Khairi Saadallah appeared by video link from coventry Magistrates Court where he was wearing a Police Issued grey sweat shirt and trousers and a face mask and spoke only to confirm his name and his date of birth. He is charged with the murders of james furlong, Joseph Ritchie bennett and david wails and the attempted murders of patrick edwards, Stephen Young and nisheet nisudan. All six men were sitting on the grass in two separate groups in forbury gardens in reading on saturday the 20th ofjune when the attack happened just before seven oclock in the evening. The attack lasted less than two minutes. This is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. More than half a Million People have lost their lives in the coronavirus pandemic, with the United States being the worst affected country. Lets look at some of the days other news. A new report says china is forcing women to be sterilised or fitted with contraceptive devices in xinjiang in an apparent attempt to limit the population of muslim uighurs. The report, by china scholar adrian zenz, has prompted calls for the United Nations to investigate. China denies the allegations in the report, calling them baseless. A serial killer known as the Golden State Killer has pleaded guilty to 13 counts of murder and kidnapping. A former police officer, Joseph James Deangelo jr, terrorised the state of california in the 1970s and 80s but was only identified and arrested in 2018 after police made a major dna breakthrough. Deangelo jr also admitted to 62 counts of rape, which he cannot be charged with due to the statute of limitations having expired. Nigeria says it is saddened by the sale of two sculptures belonging to the countrys igbo community. A prominent art historian had called on the auction house, christies, to cancel the sale, saying the two objects were looted from shrines during the civil war in the late 1960s. The items were sold forjust under 240,000 dollars in paris. Christies rejected the claim that they were stolen. New bbc report on the Islamic State group. Its about how is has sought to take advantage of the worlds pre occupation with the pandemic. In fact, its even called the virus gods little soldier. One reason is that the outbreaks in iraq and syria have meant fewer western troops on the ground. And so a group that had been on the retreat has re emerged with a Guerrilla Campaign of assassinations and murders. Quentin sommerville reports. While coronavirus brought the world to a halt, in iraq and syria, a war has reignited. The Islamic State group is resurgent. In the dead of night in syrias deir ez zur, a convoy of kurdish led special forces are on the move earlier this month. Inside this house, is suspects thought to be armed. 150 were arrested in this operation alone. Many more are at large. Is is back. The caliphate remains, says this graffiti. Terrorising and extorting the people here. And like in its early days, is hit men are murdering local officials. The people here live in fear. This mans son was murdered by thejihadists. Translation eyewitnesses said that a car started following them. It caught up with them and then they were kidnapped. The next morning their friends organised a search party. They found their decapitated heads resting on the asphalt. The coronavirus and troop withdrawals mean there are fewer Coalition Troops on the ground, but in the skies, warplanes have been busy. British, french and american aircraft have struck is again and again in their desert sanctuaries. The Coalition Says it has killed dozens. Where it once commanded cities and armies, is is now diminished, but it is again emerging from the shadows. Its reach to the west has curtailed, but in iraq and syria, it is re establishing its grip. With a world distracted, the Islamic State group has not rested. Quentin somerville, bbc news. The Uns World Food Programme has told the bbc that unless more aid money is made available immediately, 1 Million People in syria face the risk of mass starvation. This is head of the World Food Programme David Beasley. 0f ofa of a nation of 20 Million People, 9. 3 Million People go to bed hungry. Food insecure, everyday every night in syria. Now, what is also bad is1 million of those, they do not know where they will get their next meal. They literally are on the brink of starvation. Of course syria is already a country that has been devasted by close to a decade of war. More than 380,000 people have been killed since the uprising against president Bashar Al Assad began in 2011. Over 13 million others, thats half the countries pre war population, have been displaced either inside or outside syria. And over 6 million refugees now live around the world. The vast majority of them are turkey, lebanon, jordan, iraq and egypt. And these countries have seen covid 19 badly impact their economies which in turn impacts their ability to support refugees. Heres David Beasley again. Quite funky, what has happened in syria is unprecedented. It is the worst of all storms coming together. Quite frankly. A population of 20 Million People here have been exploited and disturbed by extremes of what now for almost ten years. Just five years ago, you had millions of people migrating. Now five and a half Million People have left syria, we now have six and a half Million People displaced and just when you think it could not get any worse at all, it has gotten worse because you had economic collapse, lebanese economy has collapsed, the value of the currency has absolutely just collapsed completely. In fact, a food basket is now 20 times the cost that it was just ten years ago. David beasley was speaking to the bbc ahead of a Donor Conference in brussels on tuesday. Heres the bbcs chief International Correspondent lyse doucet on what we can expect. This will be the fourth conference hosted both by the United Nations and the european union. This time of course any moment of date pandemic it will be held at virtually. The issues on the agenda are ever the same. Growing humanitarian crisis. But a political crisis which never seems any closer to being resolved. The current status of what will be described tomorrow as the search for a comprehensive political solution is that they are focusing on the constitution, and the un has made some steps, at least before this humanitarian crisis erupted, getting the two sides to talk about changes to the constitution, but so far from damascus that we have seen no sign that they are willing to make the kind of political concessions, the kind of political concessions, the kind of political concessions, the kind of transition, that would be a cce pta ble kind of transition, that would be acceptable to the opposition and indeed the european powers he would become one of the main donors to syria if they felt a solution was in sight. Frances former Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his welsh wife penelope have been sentenced to jail for fraud over a fake job scandal. He was found guilty of paying Penelope Fillon over a million euros, thats around 1. 3 million dollars, for work as a parliamentary aide that she never did. And he was sentenced to five years, three of them suspended. Penelope fillon was given a three year suspended term for being complicit. Here you can see them both leaving the courtroom in paris after the verdict. Both have appealed which puts a block on their immediate incarceration. There was time when Francois Fillon had his eye on the president ial election in 2017 this scandal put pay to that. Heres hugh schofield. Forward of the French Centre right going back 20 years, been a very young parliamentarian in the early 90s, served under chirac, served under sarkozy and then was the front runner in 2017 to be the next president. If we cast our minds back tojust four years ago, it was looking very much as if the centre right would win. After francois hollande. Who was going to lead to the centre right
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