we begin with a big sign of progress in the u.s. vaccination campaign against the coronavirus. but it comes, hand in hand, with a record the country could do without. as for the milestone, half of americans are now fully vaccinated, according to data released friday. but in the state of florida, the delta variant is spreading, at unprecedented speed. we are talking about 20,000 new cases, per day, on average. florida had more than 134,000 new cases, total, over the past week. the highest number, since the pandemic began. and the fda is stepping up efforts to make a decision about booster shots for people whose immune systems have been compromised. an administration official says the decision could come before early september. but despite the uptick in vaccinations, the covid surge is showing no signs of slowing down. nick valencia reports. reporter: a major milestone for the country with half the total-u.s. population fully vaccinated. but the grim count of covid deaths is
live in tokyo on day 14 of the games, where athletes are having to battle the extreme heat injapan, forcing the women s gold medal football match to be moved. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news it is newsday. welcome to bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. it s seven in the morning here in singapore, and 4:30amin the morning across afghanistan, where the government is mobilising its forces to try to repel taliban fighters as they move in on several big cities. this map shows you some of the key areas of the fighting in kandahar, herat and lashkar gah. this is the situation earlier on thursday in herat, with taliban fighters reportedly moving at will, in much of the city. here are the thoughts of some of the residents. translation: the situation is tough. | our houses have all been destroyed. people have all fled. there are eight or nine taliban on the roof of our house. if the security force hit there, everything will be destro
also in the programme, the uk government defends changes to the rules on foreign travel as thousands of british tourists scramble to get home from mexico by sunday morning. the government has defended its decision to add the country to the government read list causing some difficulty to some who are there. i can t afford another £3000, and also with my work, i can t afford to take any extra time off. and i can t work in the quarantine hotel, so we had to get back. we start with the escalating fighting in afghanistan. for months now, the taliban have been gaining ground in rural and underpopulated areas. now there s fierce conflict in several provincial capitals, the afghan army fighting back in crowded neighbourhoods, and all this putting more civilians in more danger. this map shows you some of the key areas of the fighting kandahar, herat and lashkar gah. lashkar gah is the capital of helmand province, which was the former headquarters of the british forces. there s fier
after failing to reach agremeent on a new contract. we start with the escalating fighting in afghanistan. for months now, the taliban have been gaining ground in rural and underpopulated areas. now there s fierce conflict in several provincial capitals, the afghan army fighting back in crowded neighbourhoods, and all this putting more civilians in more danger. this map shows you some of the key areas of the fighting kandahar, herat and lashkar gah. lashkar gah is the capital of helmand province, which was the former headquarters of the british forces. there s fierce fighting there, with the taliban now in control of large parts of the city. these are members of the afghan army there, who ve been warning residents to stay away or leave. locals have reported dead bodies in the streets and scarce supplies of food and water. bilal sarwary is an afghan journalist based in kabul. here he is on the latest on the battle for lashkar gah. well, we know that the afghan special forces
i am sarah mulkerrins live tokyo on day 14, where steven gardiner won 400 metre gold to secure the bahamas first medal of the games. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it s newsday. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. it s 6am in the morning here in singapore and 2:30am in the morning across afghanistan, where the government is mobilizing its forces to try to repel taliban fighters as they move in on several big cities. this map shows you some of the key areas of the fighting in kandahar, herat and lashkar gah. this is the situation earlier on thursday in herat, with taliban fighters reportedly moving at will in much of the city. here are the thoughts of some of the residents. translation: the situation is tough. our houses have all been destroyed. people have all fled. there are eight or nine taliban on the roof of our house. if the security force hit there, everything will be destroyed. then where should we go? t