this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: the president's doctor confirms mr trump is taking the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine in an attempt to prevent coronavirus infection. i happen to be taking it, i happen to be taking it. hydroxychloroquine? hydroxychloroquine. the world health organization promises an independent inquiry into the pandemic, but the us renews its criticism. and italy enjoys its first day of reopening. we report on how life has been changed by coronavirus. he toured with stevie wonder and prince, but now a lack of gigs means this top jazz artist is performing for his neighbours.

as the death toll from the virus in the us passes 90,000, the white house physician has now confirmed that he has prescribed president trump with an anti—malarial drug, as a precaution, after a member of staff was confirmed to have coronavirus. the us food and drug administration warns against the general use of hydroxychloroquine for this purpose, and has warned of potentially dangerous side effects. mr trump, who's tested negative for the virus several times, told reporters he's been taking the drug for a week and a half. a lot of good things have come out about the hydroxy. a lot of good things have come out and you would be surprised

at how many people are taking it. especially the front—line workers before you catch it. the front—line workers, many, many are taking it. i happen to be taking it, i happen to be taking it. hydroxychloroquine? i'm taking it. hydroxychloroquine. right now, yeah. a couple of weeks ago i started taking it. i've heard a lot of good stories. and if it's not good, i'm not getting hurt by it. it's been around for a0 years for malaria, lupus, other things. front—line workers to get a lot of doctors take it. i take it. i hope to not be able to take it. i hope they come up with some answer. although there are trials under way to see if the drug has any value in treating or preventing covid—i9, president trump's use of it, contradicts us official advice. the food and drug administration cautions against its use saying

it is "aware of reports of serious heart rhythm problems in patients with covid—i9, treated with hydroxychloroquine," and "hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have not been shown to be safe and effective for treating or preventing covid—i9." even american cable network fox news, which often takes a supportive position towards the administration, was critical of the president's comments. if you are in a risky population here and you are taking this as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus or any worst—case scenario you are dealing with the virus and you are in this vulnerable population, it will kill you. i cannot stress enough. this will kill you. here's our north america correspondent peter bowes. it was quite a jawdropping statement from the president, as you could tell from the response of the journalists in the room. and as you correctly say, mike, it does seem to fly in the face of what we are hearing from the us administration, the advice being that this drug simply has not been proven to help people with covid—i9,

and indeed, further than that, it could potentially be dangerous for some people, causing heart rhythm problems for some patients, if this drug is used in combination with other drugs. there was some scepticism when we first heard from the president about this whether he was actually taking the drug, but that now seems to have been confirmed. you referred to the statement we have seen in the last hour or so from the president's physician at the white house, and he talks about the fact that a member of staff there was tested and proved to be positive for covid—i9 in the last couple of weeks, and the implication of that, just the very fact that it's mentioned, might suggest this is indeed a response to that. he says he and the president discussed the pros and cons

of using this particular drug, and saying that they decided that the potential benefits outweighed the relative risks, and those risks, we have been hearing a lot about, from many, many other doctors around the country in the last couple of hours, who are strongly advising people that this drug simply isn't to be used for this purpose. but of course, peter, there is bound to be concern that a bunch of people may well put themselves at risk if they can get hold of the drug by taking it, saying, well, if it's good enough for the president. . 7 the president said, "what is there to lose?" and i think that is a phrase that might resonate with some people who are inclined to believe what he says, and to follow his lead. and there is a tremendous amount of concern among doctors up and down the country that people will take to their hearts what the president said. those people who are perhaps very worried about their own health, the health of members of their family, as this pandemic continues.

the country is slowly beginning to get back to normal, but the number of deaths in the united states has now surpassed 90,000. this is a pandemic here and indeed around the world that is far from over, and there is just that fear that some people may be feeling so desperate with the situation that they are inclined to try this drug, as the president is, without any scientific backing. let's get some of the day's other news. india and bangladesh are preparing to evacuate more than 2 million people as a cyclone amphan heads towards their coasts. forecasters say the "super cyclone" will reach wind speeds in excess of 200 kilometres an hour. amphan is expected to weaken slightly when making landfall on wednesday. france and germany have proposed a european recovery fund worth more than $500 billion. speaking after talks with president emmanuel macron, chancellor angela merkel said the bloc should act so countries get out of the coronavirus crisis "well and strengthened." the fund would offer grants to the countries and regions hardest hit. the supreme court in el salvador has ordered the immediate suspension of the state of emergency declared by president nayib bukele. the president, who has been accused of exceeding his

powers, had ordered the state of emergency on saturday, when previous orders were set to expire, without congressional approval. clubs in the english premier league have voted unanimously to let players restart training in small groups and without any contact from tuesday. the season was suspended in mid—march, and while they'd like to restart games onjune 12th, it's widely thought this will need to be pushed back. praise and fierce criticism have been heaped on the world health organization. the online meeting of its governing assembly was attended by more than 190 countries with china pledging $2 billion over two years to fight the coronavirus. leading the charge against the who was us health secretary alex azar. he accused the agency of failures that cost lives. we saw that who failed at its core mission of information sharing and transparency, when member states do not act in good faith. this cannot ever happen again. the status quo is intolerable. who must change and it must

become far more transparent and far more accountable. china is supporting calls for an inquiry into the origins of the pandemic after initially opposing the idea. i asked lawrence gostin, a professor of global health law, why beijing has changed its position. i think what's changed is there's been a lot of political pressure placed upon china. but you really have to read between the lines here, it's quite important, because china is not agreeing to look at what the origins of the coronavirus were, and it's also not agreeing to do an enquiry right now. it's going to wait until after the epidemic is contained. that could of course be years from now, so it's really deflecting. i think that the european motion, along with australia and others, to have an independent enquiry right now makes most sense. notjust for china or who,

but the world's response, including the united states' response. what do you make of the united states' criticism of the who—china relationship? mr trump has called the who a "puppet" of china. more generally, outside the united states, there was great concern about the who being rather lax, rather light on china, certainly in the early days. well, you know, the who in the early days did praise china. i believe they were doing that, you know, for smart diplomacy, to try to coax china into more cooperation. i mean, so, it probably shouldn't have done that. it should have said, "these are the data that china

has reported, we have no means to independently verify it." but otherwise who has really acted admirably. they have been highly transparent. they gave the world more than ample notice, many, many times. they have put out evidence—based guidelines. overall, i would give who very high marks, i would actually give china and the united states, for its political battle putting the who in between it, very low marks, frankly. how damaging has this spat been to world health, would you say, and to who? i mean, it's already underfunded — i think its budget is less than the average health district in new york, isn't it? it's actually less than a major hospital in new york. which is really a stunning point. it's way underfunded. but, you know, in this case, money is not the biggest issue with what the united states and china are doing. what the biggest issue is,

is that it's a huge political destruction. i think the who leadership, dr tedros, is dispirited by it, understandably so. and in the middle of a pandemic, when the world needs to unite, we are falling apart. when the world needs to support, it's blaming. this is, i think, unforgivable, in the face of a once in a century event. we all need to get behind who, we all need to work together. frankly, these two countries are acting like children. and injust the past and in just the past few minutes, president trump has tweeted a lengthy letter. he says he has written to the who chief, listing its alleged failings and threatening to withdraw your support permanently if the organisation

does not agree to what he calls "substantive does not agree to what he calls "substa ntive improvements" within the next 30 days. more, no doubt, to come on that as we go on. italy has been one of the worst affected countries in europe, with nearly 32,000 dead but in recent weeks the numbers of infections and deaths have been consistently falling. now, after a io—week, strict national lockdown, shops, restaurants, bars and hairdressers have been finally opening up. mark lowen reports from milan. a plea for guidance as they emerge from the darkness. in milan, where europe's coronavirus plague exploded, they came today for solace, to the first mass since public church services resumed, after the world's longest national lockdown. this parish alone has lost 80 people. a 2,000—year—old church now has new traditions. the communion wafer is passed between unsullied hands. no longer directly on the tongue, but the palm, not a tissue. for some, it's hard to adjust.

translation: it's a bit strange to hold the body of christ with the gloves, but it's important that people can come here to regain spiritual and moral strength, after all this suffering. for the faithful, a relief. "it seems like a new world," he says. "to start again like this is so moving. we missed it." "i felt so good," this lady says, but emotions stop any more words. it's been a long ten weeks for hairdressers and beauty salons, for restaurants and cafes, and for shops, like italy's oldest department store, appropriately named rinascente — rebirth. the new regulations are pretty strict. anybody coming in has their temperature checked. grazie. staff use an app to show

them how many customers are in the store at any one time. there are hand sanitising points everywhere. and no more testing of make—up. and upstairs, there's more. changing rooms are disinfected after each use, and clothes tried on aren't put back, but are taken to a separate room, themselves quarantined. this, too, is helping italy's recovery. a hotel used to isolate infected cases as they wait to test negative, further halting the spread. after 20 days here, jacqueline is ready to go home.

a step closer to this country healing. mark lowen, bbc news, milan. a rocket has hit near the us embassy in baghdad. it's the first to land in the high security zone in weeks. iraq's military says there are no casualties. there has been no immediate claim of responsibility. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, the power of music. we meet one furloughed performer who's giving back to his neighbourhood. this morning, an indian airforce plane carrying mr gandhi's body landed in delhi. the president of india walked to the plane to solemnly witness mr gandhi's final return from the political battlefield.

ireland has voted overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage. in doing so, it has become the first country in the world to approve the change in a national referendum. it was a remarkable climax to what was surely the most extraordinary funeral ever given to a pop singer. it has been a peaceful funeral demonstration so far, but suddenly the police are teargassing the crowd. we don't know why. the prelaunch ritual is well—established here. helen was said to be in good spirits, butjust a little apprehensive. in the last hour, east timor has become the world's newest nation. it was a bloody start for a poor country, and the challenges ahead are daunting. but for now, at least, it is time to celebrate. welcome it is time to celebrate. back. good to have you with welcome back. good to have you with us on bbc news. one main

headline this hour. a white house doctor has confirmed that president trump has been prescribed an anti malarial drug as a preventative after an aide tested positive for coronavirus. staying with that story, to tell me more about the drug and whether it could potentially have any use in preventing or treating covid—i9, i've been speaking to dr yogen kanthi, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at the university of michigan. it is an old drug. originally used to treat and prevent malaria. more recently for autoimmune diseases like lupus and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. so it's been used for quite a while for these reasons. its use in coronavirus is much more controversial. there really were some early studies that suggested perhaps the drug hydroxychloroquine could prevent coronavirus from replicating in a dish and there was hope that would translate over to people and unfortunately the evidence really hasn't shown that to be the case and that treatment with hydroxychloroquine hasn't modified the course of disease in patients with covid—i9.

so the tests that suggested it might stop covid—i9 from spreading, that was in a lab, humans are more complex, so there would need to be proper trials and they have not been? so there have been some observational studies done. these are studies in which they have looked at people in hospital with covid, for example in the city of new york, or the state of new york, and those studies, unfortunately, when they looked back on them, these are not controlled, randomised trials done in the traditional sense, but they did look back at the date on several thousand patients and didn't find any evidence that treatment with hydroxychloroquine could really change the course of patients with covid—i9 or, more importantly, it would not benefit them. could it be harmful? as a cardiologist, i've known, and our community has known for a while, that hydroxychloroquine has some effects on the heart muscle and it can cause a predilection to developing cardiac arrhythmias. in most patients this isn't the case, it really doesn't cause a problem, but if you

were vulnerable to this or you had a series of other medications like, for example, the antibiotic azithromycin, which can cause the same thing, as these things get added on top of one and other it can really increase the risk of a arrhythmia and unfortunately that's what we've seen in some patients, is that treatment with hydroxychloroquine at high doses plus the addition of an antibiotic like azithromycin can increase the risk of these heart arrhythmias and some of which can be fatal. dr yogan kanthi there. in southern africa, the prime minister of lesotho says he'll step down, amid allegations he was involved in the assassination of his former wife three years ago. it's not the first time thomas thabane has promised to resign, but his party insists a replacement will be sworn in this week. rich preston has this report. for months, thomas thabane has been clinging on to power after being implicated in the death of his former wife in 2017.

lipolelo thabane was gunned down on a dirt road outside the capital, maseru, just metres from her home. he denies any allegations he was involved. his new wife, maesiah thabane, was charged with her murder at the start of february. prosecutors say he too was responsible, even if he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger. the case has gripped the tiny landlocked southern african nation, sending ripples through its delicate politics, the 80—year—old leader of his resignation in february, but said it was because of his age, nothing to do with being accused of being an accessory to murder. today i reiterate my announcement to retire from office. i might still have the necessary zeal and fervour to continue serving my people and country, but the truth is that at my age i've lost most of my energy.

he said he was going, but instead hung on to power, saying he wouldn't be told when to leave office. in march, he suspended parliament without consultation, saying it was necessary to protect lawmakers from coronavirus. even members of his own party condemned the move as unconstitutional. in april, he sent the army onto the streets of the capital to tackle what he called rogue national elements, which he said wanted to destabilise the country. an act for which he later apologised. his lawyers argued his political position gave him immunity from prosecution. the courts disagreed. now the curtain is finally falling on his time in office. he's lost the support of his party... thabane must step down! ..and his government has collapsed. the speaker of lesotho's parliament gave him until may 22 to resign. a replacement will be sworn in this week. lipolelo tha bane's murder and the implication of a sitting prime minister in her killing shocked the country and africa. thomas tha bane insists the charges against him are politically motivated. the case against him is still to be heard. rich preston, bbc news.

in chile, protesters and police have clashed in one of the poorest areas of the capital, santiago, amid tension over food shortages during lockdown. despite the fact that as part of the quarantine people in santiago must stay at home, many took to the streets to protest against the shortage of food and aid. speaking to the media, some pointed out their protest was not against the quarantine, but against the conditions they are currently living in. president sebastian pinera, in a televised address after the protests, pledged to get food to those in need. frederic yonnet is a jazz musician who toured the world with prince and stevie wonder. now he's playing for audiences closer to home. he's been performing for his neighbours in washington, dc, bringing weekend joy during these troubled times. here's his story.

my name is frederic yonnet, i'm a french harmonica player. i moved to washington, dc, in 2001. i've toured with prince for a few years and stevie wonder for a few years. i am trying to make harmonica popular again. we were about to get on the road with the band to do a tour and some private events around the country when covid hit. the necessity of playing turned into this opportunity to create a space where we could actually respect the rules of covid and still be creative, still practice our music. we've been calling those those sunday sessions eavesdrop,

not because we wanted people to come and watch the show, but for them to listen from their property. when we first started this, we were a little concerned and worried about what kind of reaction we were going to get from people. i have lived in this neighbourhood for quite some time and now, thanks to this, we are meeting more neighbours than i've ever met since i moved here. i think we all need joy, happiness and love in this time. it's not the end of the world and ijust want to have human connection, so i feel good.

this whole social distancing, distancing rule has been cancelled by the power of music. it's become physical distancing, but the social aspect has been reinforced. my hope is once this is all over we are finally going to be comfortable giving each other hugs again and gathering in small places to enjoy live music with one another. music is universal, a universal language, and it needs to be spoken. especially in difficult times like this. as businesses across the us are slowly reopening their doors, many are getting creative to maintain social distancing rules. this fish restaurant in ocean city, maryland is using bumper tables strapped to customers to stop them getting within six feet of each other. so social distancing can also be kind of fun, if not flattering.

much more any time on the bbc website. thanks for watching. hello there. on monday, the temperature reached 25 celsius in suffolk, and over the next couple of days, the heat will continue to build. the peak of the temperatures is likely to be on wednesday. things start to break down a bit after that. chance of thunderstorms on thursday before we all turn cooler and windier by the end of the week. pretty mild out there at the moment away from northernmost parts of scotland. these are the temperatures by the end of the night, and as you can see, still a lot of cloud around. some outbreaks of rain, too. that rain continuing to affect the northern half of the uk mainly during tuesday morning. slowly petering out, many places becoming dry during the afternoon. the cloud thinning and skies brightening. the best of the sunshine likely to be across wales, the midlands and southern england, where temperatures will peak at 25 or 26 degrees. but on the whole, it should be a slightly warmer day

across the uk than it was on monday. and those temperatures continue to climb for wednesday. that area of high pressure is sitting over the uk. it's pushing the cloud and rain away, and we're going to be drawing up a gentle southerly breeze that will bring the heat northwards all the way from spain and france and move its way across the uk. northern areas start quite cloudy on wednesday. some rain to clear away from the northern isles, the cloud thins and breaks, and sunshine develops more widely. and in the afternoon, we're likely to find temperatures of 23 degrees through central scotland, 20 or so for northern ireland, the highest temperatures across the midlands to the south—east of england, 27 or 28 degrees. things start to break down a bit on thursday. there's a bit of rain trying to come in from the west. that may not make it too far. these showers are likely to break out from the south—east of england, heading towards the midlands, lincolnshire and east anglia, and they could be heavy and thundery. and that will knock

the temperatures down. for many of us, it's still quite a warm day on thursday, just not quite as warm as wednesday. and then things start to change more widely, i think, for the end of the week, because we've got this area of low pressure. it's winding itself up, the winds will be strengthening and this weather front will be bringing some rain. that's going to move its way eastwards across the uk during friday, but there won't be much rain, i think, for england and wales, and the more persistent rain soon sweeps away from mainland scotland. the winds, though, will be stronger. gales likely in the north—west, and this is where we'll see most of the showers. otherwise, there'll be some sunshine, a cooler and fresher feel, but still 21 in eastern england.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the white house physician has confirmed that president trump has been taking an unproven drug, hydroxychloroquine, in the hope of preventing infection with coronavirus. the drug is intended to prevent malaria and the us food and drug administration has warned that it could have serious side—effects. the us president has threatened to permanently reduce funding to the world health organization if it doesn't agree to major reforms within the next 30 days. he accused it of failing to provide necessary information about the virus. its director—general denied the allegation, saying it had sounded the alarm early and often. revised guidance from the the uk health service says anyone who's lost their sense of taste or smell should self—isolate for seven days to reduce the risk of spreading covid—19. the symptoms have been added to the list of signs that someone might have caught the infection.