this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a grim milestone in the united states with 100—thousand deaths now reported because of the coronavirus pandemic. britain's prime minister, borisjohnson, comes under intense pressure from mps over his refusal to sack his top adviser, but he hits back during 90 minutes of questioning. i understand why people feel such indignation about the whole business, the pain of the whole business of the lockdown, but i really also think that what they want now is for us to focus on them and their needs. as protests continue in hong kong, the us secretary of state says the territory no longer merits special status under us law, because china is stripping

it of autonomy. and no luck with the weather for the launch of the first privately—owned spacecraft to the international space station. hello and welcome to all the united states has reached a grim milestone — there have now been more than 100—thousand recorded coronavirus deaths in the country, by far the worst—affected nation in the world. let's take a look at how we got to here. the first death in the us was reported on february the 29th. on march the 13th, president donald trump declared a national emergency

as states across the us announced school closures. within 10 days, stay—at—home orders had been issued in the three—worst affected states, california, new york and washington. by april the 12th, the us surpassed italy, with just over 20—thousand deaths, becoming the country with the most deaths in the world. a few days later president trump released his guidelines for reopening the country, amid anti—lockdown protests in some states. on may the 6th, the president announced that his coronavirus task force would continue indefinitely, just a day after announcing that it would close. by this point the number of deaths across the country stood at 71—thousand people. and today, just three months on from the first death, the country has now reached 100—thousand deaths. our north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, reports from washington. # happy birthday to you... friends

and relatives of more than 100,000 people in america can nowjust cling to the memories of happier times before the coronavirus. my father was a really caring person. hejust wa nted was a really caring person. hejust wanted to help people, and he was really outgoing. he was really funny. todd was one of the first confirmed deaths back on the 1st of march. as someone who lost someone so march. as someone who lost someone so close and obviously very dear to you, when you saw the way this was going in the country, how does it make you feel? it's scary. it's sad. i feel angry. we should make you feel? it's scary. it's sad. ifeel angry. we should have been listening to the doctors on the scientists. we should not have been listening to people talking about the stock market. it's natural that people are reaching for answers for

someone people are reaching for answers for someone to be accountable, after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york. refrigerated trucks lining up new york. refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. if the lord says so! african-americans like rhoda are still dying in disproportionate numbers. i think 100,000 still dying in disproportionate numbers. i think100,000 is an extraordinary number. it means... some of us in the black community are very concerned that as the narrative became that african—americans were disproportionately impacted by the virus, that there was also a push to open up the country and made us think prematurely that suggested the devaluation of black life. this cause to reopen —— called to reopen go on even adds the number of dead continues to mount and the nation

mourns. flags have been lowered here after tragedies like mass shootings, and even then, it's been difficult to grapple with the scale of loss after sometimes dozens of people have been killed. but how then does america even began to count the emotional cost of such a staggering number of deaths that have happened in fewer than 90 devastating days? to really do justice to the stories of those lost would take many lifetimes. for people left behind, the question lingers, could moore have been done so these americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around. aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. the british prime minister boris johnson has repeatedly dismissed calls for an official inquiry into the conduct of his top adviser, dominic cummings. the prime minister was put on the spot by a committee of senior mps and asked to authorise a formal imvestigation, into why mr cummings

drove his family hundreds of kilometres during the lockdown. here's our political air editor laura kuenssberg. he is the prime minister's top adviser. it's been the prime minister's choice to keep him on. the prime minister, who's had dominic cummings by his side. so today, it was for the prime minister to defend their decisions to mps. have you had a look at your inbox? my inbox, like mps across the uk, is filled with people listing their sacrifices. he won't say sorry. will you say sorry on his behalf? i am sorry for the pain, as i've said, the anguish and heartbreak of so many people in this country. what about mr cummings' journey confusing other parents? the reason you're not giving people a straight answer is because you are trying to protect dominic cummings. 40,000 people are dead. we need you to get this right now. so can you tell us, you have a choice between protecting dominic cummings and putting the national interest first,

which will it be, prime minister? well, i think my choice is the choice of the british people, they want us all to make, yvette, that is, as far as we possibly can, to lay aside party political point scoring and put the national interest first. this is now a distraction. people are very annoyed, prime minister. is that on your radar? i do understand why people feel such indignation about the whole business, the pain of the whole business, of the lockdown. but i really also think that what they want now is for us to focus on them. the prime minister was also pressed on the country's halting start to testing for the virus, and plans for a huge tracing system starting tomorrow. why it took until april to introduce the 100,000 tests target, even though our first confirmed case was in january? the brutal reality, jeremy, is that this country did not learn the lessons of sars or mers, and we didn't have a test

operation ready to go on the scale that we needed. but from tomorrow, thousands of people in england could be asked to stay at home if they've been in contact with anyone with the virus. is it compulsory, or is it advisory? we intend to make it absolutely clear to people that they must stay at home. is it a law or is it advice? we will be asking people to stay at home. that captivity for a tiny minority for a short time will allow us, gradually, to release 66 million people from the current situation. why, he was asked, quarantine people flying into the uk soon, when at the start of the virus, the government allowed planes to keep going to and fro? why now, when we are easing the lockdown and other countries are ending quarantine, and why not when we entered into lockdown? because the scientific advice was very clear that it would make no difference to the arrival of the epidemic.

what we don't want to see is reinfection from abroad, and we think a sensible quarantine scheme can help. and then an awkward question about who holds the prime minister's attention. you made the distinction between there being a lot of women and enough women. how many is enough? oh, boy! this is a deeply... no, that's a question on which i'm not competent to pronounce... is it not 50%? it's not a joking matter, though, is it? it's not, and all i say, caroline, is that it's incredibly important to us, incredibly important to us as conservatives. but this afternoon was dominated by questions about the prime minister's adviser. again and again, borisjohnson said he wanted to move on, but even as he was speaking, there were more calls from tory mps for mr cummings to say sorry or quit, so even in the prime minister's own political party,

upset hasn't faded, not yet. clearing things up is not straightforward, but number ten believes toughing it out will see them through. still in the uk and the health secretary matt hancock says the rollout of the test and trace scheme in england tomorrow declared it was everyone's ‘civic duty‘ to cooperate. it will help health authorities help people coming into close contact with those infected with coronavirus. anyone who test positive will be contacted by a health service and asked to disclose where they have been and who they beenin where they have been and who they been in contact with. the aim is to move from a nationwide walk down toward the more targeted safety measure. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has told congress that hong kong no longer qualifies for special us trade status because it has ceased to maintain a high degree of autonomy

from mainland china. mr pompeo said it was clear that beijing was modelling hong kong after itself. if the territory loses its preferential status, it will face the same tariffs as mainland china. our correspondent robin brant has the details from shanghai. this is a further escalation in the already fractous relationship between the united states and china, the world's two leading economies. just take a quick step back, we have that ongoing trade war, this continues. it was partially resolved but it goes on, and we have increasing hostility in washington, dc and other capitals as well about the outbreak and the impact of coronavirus, but now hong kong is front and centre. now, a week ago beijing announced new plans to impose, and impose is the key word there, a new national security law on hong kong after a year of protests there, it said it would deal with things like subversion and terrorism. now the united states, through mike pompeo, the secretary of state,

in evidence to congress says that that was evidence that china has shed any pretence frankly of hong kong maintaining its high degree of autonomy. the people there since 1997 pretty much have the right to rule themselves day to day. different police, different courts, different money. so the us is going to move possibly to end the special treatment it gives hong kong. there is a special trading relationship, it's less expensive to export from hong kong to the united states, a different legal relationship as well. president trump may even decide to take specific action against certain chinese leaders who may enforce this new national security law in the future. so, i think people waking up in hong kong this morning and here on the mainland will wonder about hong kong's ability to maintain its reputation, its existence as a crucial financial hub in this part of the world. the us is banking on beijing not wanting to jeopardise that. and i have to say, it is likely this

new law will be rubber—stamped in beijing later on today, there is no sign beijing will row back. in fact, it looks like it is going further in terms of bringing hong kong under the auspices of communist party control from beijing. the us move comes after protests continued on wednesday in hong kong. last week, beijing revived anti—government sentiments in the city after proposing a new security law. and protests this week are starting to look a lot like the huge rallies that started in mid—2019, which were put on pause due to pandemic—driven lockdowns. for more analysis on what the demonstrators want, let's speak to writer and lawyer antony dapiran, who's been following the protests in hong kong. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. is there a danger as far as

protested and are concerned that they are facing even more aggressive lockdown from the hong kong authorities with china's full full backing and there's little they can do about it? yes, i mean certainly the protesters will feel emboldened and encouraged by this move from the united states. it's something that many of the protesters have been almost begging the united states to do, but it's sure provoked furious response from china. and even harsher lockdown as police try to ta ke harsher lockdown as police try to take any means possible to prevent any kind of protest on the streets here in hong kong. is then at the point that what mike pompeo had said today, when you look at hong kong's trading relationship with the us, i think it's the 21st largest trading partner with the us in terms of goods. this will damage hong kong. that's right. it will be interesting to see specifically what measures president trump eventually announces and thus can't —— as a consequence

of the decision by the secretary of state. it will have to be carefully handled to ensure —— without affecting the daily lives of the people of hong kong. one wonders whether it will end up on one side of the other. either being too little to be effective, or hurt the likelihood of beep will of hong kong. government also threatened their financial status? banks will not operate their in the way they have been up until now. that might be the bit that china is making, people will be following the weight of the chinese market. with the number of large chinese company, and the opportunities for trade with china for companies that are based here. they will hold their noses

and... so financial pragmatism u nless and... so financial pragmatism unless this is explicitly ruled out by the us? i believe so. unless they feel that perhaps their senior management will be directly threatened by whatever china poses here. they may feel a little risk worth taking for sake of business. thank you very much forjoining us. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: anger in minneapolis as protesters take to the streets over the death of a black man in police custody.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines... a grim milestone in the united states with 100—thousand

deaths now reported because of the coronavirus pandemic. britain's prime minister, boris johnson, comes under intense pressure from mps over his refusal to sack his top adviser, but he hits back during 90 minutes of questioning. the mayor of minneapolis says that being a black man in america should not be a death sentence. but for 46—year—old george floyd, it was just that. mr floyd, who was unarmed, died on monday after a white officer held him down with a knee on his neck. last night, riots shook the city in protest at his death. this report from our north america correspondent nick bryant contains disturbing footage of the incident. this is the scourge of police brutality, a disease america has never been able to cure. i cannot breathe. you tough guy! an african—american pleading for air as a white officer pressed his knee on the back of his neck.

check his pulse, check his pulse! onlookers tried to help. but after being taken to hospital, george floyd was pronounced dead. the 46—year—old was being arrested following reports of the use of counterfeit money. what unfolded next we've seen many times before. protesters filling the streets carrying placards asserting that black lives matter and a kerb—side shrine, this time at the spot where george floyd was pinned down. i just want to say we are sick and tired of being sick and tired. too many lives have been taken. yesterday what we saw was a black who was lynched. right? they didn't used rope, he used his knee.

a brief black family going on television to express anguish and dismay. they treated my brother like a scumbag, left him to die, but they act like he was a piece of trash and wanted to leave him there. protesters targeting a police station, wrecking a patrol car. officers responded with a volley of tear gas. in their own version of events. resisted officers. officers noticed that the male was going into medical distress. but the security camera footage from the scene did not show george resisting arrest. the mayor of many annapolis and outs of firing of the four officers involved. being black in america should not be a death sentence. this

man's life matters. he matters. he was someone's soi'i. man's life matters. he matters. he was someone's son. in america, the black body has never been guaranteed the same protections as the whites. even of —— it's racialfault line has erupted yet again. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. it was a nail biter of a decision, with all the drama of a hollywood film. the launch of the spacex rocket from florida's famed cape canaveral was years in the making. if successful, it would be the first time a commercial aircraft put people in orbit, bound for the international space station. but mother nature had other plans. the bbc‘s jane o'brien is at cape canaveral. it came right at the last minute,

jane. 16 minutes and 54 seconds to launch. that's how close the decision was. it all came down to the weather. it was that final weather briefing where they actually warned of electric fields, lightning and anvil clouds. it was decided the risk was just too great. the safety issues were insurmountable and nasa, which is controlling —— i'm sorry, spacex, which is controlling the flight. spacex, which is controlling the flight. we will be back here on saturday because that is when the next window for launching is. the bad news is we got the same weather on the way in the afternoon, hot, slightly windy, heavy rain and a 50% chance this will happen then. but they could have gone ten minutes later than scheduled? while they could have, that would have been the weather

man's opportunity. but as the flight director for spacex said, that's man's opportunity. but as the flight directorfor spacex said, that's not our timeline. the reason for that is because they have to line up with the international space station. it has to be at a very, very specific place in orderfor the has to be at a very, very specific place in order for the space capsule to actually talk about 19 hours later. if they miss that opportunity, they only have a minute to do that, the space capsule spends too long trying to catch up with it and they can't dock. that's why they have to keep within this very small window and couldn't push it back and wait for clouse to pass.|j window and couldn't push it back and wait for clouse to pass. i knew you would be able to explain that in 20 seconds. much better than me! quite a special visit today. donald trump, what about the crowds? how many people are gonna watch this? well, there were no crowds. that was the extraordinary thing about this

because it's such a historic wants, even president trump turning up. first time since 1998 that the president was this this event. when we we re president was this this event. when we were on our way, we do see tonnes of people just lining the road, pulled into trying to get a glimpse of this. so there is much a social distancing going on. but again, the good news is the space centre here will be open tomorrow, so anybody wanting to watch that launch presumably might get the opportunity to do so on saturday, although i wouldn't want to advise anyone to ignore those social distancing protocols and turn up and do it. just to be clear, people are talking about this as a game changer. a set cargo up about this as a game changer. a set cargo up beforehand, but this company is leading the way at the moment, especially with space tourism as well. the best way to

describe this launch is that it's made in america. it is the first american rocket to take american astronauts from american soil. so it's a huge deal. it's changing the nature of these routine transport trips to the space station. it's making them commercial, and this is pa rt making them commercial, and this is part of nasa's grander scheme to commercialize space travel, because it drives down costs and leaves them free to focus on the big missions like getting back to the moon and even like getting back to the moon and eve n o nto like getting back to the moon and even onto mars. so the idea is that it changes the way we think about how to get to space, no longer a national enterprise. nasa, on this instance, is a customer. jane, for now. back to you on saturday. the

united states has reached a grim milestone. there have now been more than 100—thousand recorded coronavirus deaths in the country — by far the worst—affected nation in the world. goodbye. hello again. wednesday brought us more sunshine across the country. the highest temperature was again around the greater london area, this time in heathrow, 26 celsius, and a bit further north in suffolk, that's how we ended the day. now, over recent days, the warmth that has mainly been concentrated across south—east england has been spreading into wales, south—west england, and for thursday the heat is more widespread across the uk, so most areas will have warmer weather. one exception, really, east anglia and south—east england, where it's going to be getting a little bit fresher and temperatures coming down just a few degrees but still warm. we'll take a look at why. on the satellite picture, we've got this area of cloud working into northern scotland, bringing a bit of rain, and a very weak cold front diving southwards across the north sea. that is introducing fresher air to east anglia and south—east england and ultimately will knock

the temperatures down by a few degrees. this is how the weather looks at the moment, though, it's cloudy for northern scotland, still got some rain around at the moment, but that's will tend to ease over the coming hours. elsewhere, it's a largely dry picture, a little bit low cloud and an odd mist and fog patch towards coastal areas of lincolnshire but otherwise clear spells for most and a fresher feel to the weather across some of these eastern areas of scotland and england is that cooler airworks in. now, for thursday most of us will have sunshine from dawn till dusk, any low cloud or mist clearing away very quickly, and the rain also clearing from northern scotland. it should be biting up in the northern isles later in the day. a warmer day for most, then, 23 degrees or so in edinburgh, probably about 23—24 for western counties of northern ireland but cooler in london. instead of about 26 or 27 that it has been over recent days, it will be about 22, still warm in the sunshine, and we have got more of the same to come on friday. a woman day for most, then, 23 degrees or so in edinburgh,

still keeping these weather fronts at bay. that means we got more of the same. they will turn quite breezy for some of us. nevertheless, we do have more of that warm sunshine to come. temperatures in glasgow peeking around 24 celsius. further south, we will see temperatures into the mid—20s. some of the warmest weather and cardiff.

this is bbc world news. the headlines... more than 100,000 people have now died from coronavirus in the united states — that's more than the combined total of fatalities from the korean, vietnam and iraq wars. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson has continued to back his chief advisor under questioning from senior mps. he was also questioned about britain's coronavirus response which has seen the highest number of deaths in europe as protests rumble on in hong kong — the us secretary of state mike pompeo says the territory no longer merits special status under american law, because china is stripping it of autonomy. and the first private sector mission to the international space station— and the first crewed launch from us soil in nine years — has been postponed due to bad weather. it's now thought that the spacex rocket will be launched on saturday.