this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm tim willcox. the death toll in the united states due to the coronavirus pandemic has now passed 100,000 deaths. 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. 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 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 audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. it's been confirmed there here have now been more than 100,000 recorded coronavirus deaths in the united states, by far the worst—affected nation in the world. it's more than the combined total of fatalities from the korean, vietnam and iraq wars. 0ur 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. he just wanted to help people and he was really outgoing. he thought he was really funny. doug was one of the first confirmed deaths back on the 1st of march. as somebody who lost someone so close and someone obviously very, very dear to you so early on, when you saw the way this was going in the country, how has it made you feel over the last couple months? it's scary. it's sad. i feel angry. we should have been listening to the doctors and 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 to be accountable after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york

and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. we now know that african—americans, like rhoda hatch, are still dying in disproportionate numbers. i think 100,000 is an extraordinary number. it means that there is a lot of pain and grief. 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 lives. those calls to reopen go on, even as the number of dead continues to mount and as 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 more have been done so these americans and tens of thousands of others might still be around? aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. well, let's take a look at how the us got to this point. the first death in the country 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 ten 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, withjust 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 100,000 deaths. let's get more from our north america correspondent david willis. triple the number of deaths than any other country in the

world. any response from the president? not so far, tim. although he was presumably hoping to get some headlines that would distract from all this by going to florida for what was hoped would be the first launch of the nasa astronauts into orbit in nearly astronauts into orbit in nearly a decade. those headlines were denied to the president and that good luck story has gone away, at least until the weekend. the figures are very grim indeed. more than 100,000 deaths and around about four months, disproportionately largerfor months, disproportionately larger for african—americans. a lot of deaths in nursing homes. what it means is that on average since the beginning of february, 900 americans have died every single day of the covid—19 virus. that is about double the number that died in the vietnam war and higher than the vietnam war and higher than the number of americans killed in combat in every military

engagement since the korean war. different states, different governors are doing things differently. some of the approval of donald trump, others not so. you've lived in the state for such a long time 110w. the state for such a long time now. how much of a debate is there between various states on national tv? there between various states on nationaltv? 0, considerable debate. those democrats states, michigan state for example, —— michigan state for example, —— michigan for example, very cautious about reopening. republican led states which are seenin republican led states which are seen in many cases, far cuter cases, urging to follow the president's advised —— far fewer cases. all states are starting to reopen their economies at a time when, in many cases, the number of coronavirus is cases has not been on the slide. generally across the us, it is now from

the peak of around 2000 cases and 2000 deaths a day, but we still see about 1500 deaths on occasion here, and no wonder then that health experts are warning of the need to still adhere to those of social distancing guidelines, i still wear a mask distancing guidelines, i still weara mask in distancing guidelines, i still wear a mask in public, even though in many cases, people are not. thank you. and a little later in the bulletin we'll be speaking tojustin lesser, from the johns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. the uk 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 investigation into why mr cummings drove his family hundreds of kilometres during the lockdown. here's our political editor, laura kuenssberg. do you think the public will believe you? he is the prime minister's top advisor, it's been

the prime minister's choice to keep them on, the prime minister who's had a 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? well, i will of course repeat that i am sorry for the pain, as i said, the anguish and heartbreak of so many people in this country. what about mr cummings's 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? i think my choice is the choice that the british people want us all to make, yvette, and that is, as far as we possibly can, to lay aside party—political

point—scoring and to put the national interest first, and to be very clear with the british public about what we want to do and how we want to take this country forward. 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 test target, even though our first confirmed case was injanuary? 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 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, but let me be clear... what do you mean by "must"? 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, so i do think it's the right way forward. at the start of the virus, the government at loud planes to keep going to fro. why not when we entered into lockdown? is that scientific advice, it was very clear. it will make no difference to the arrival of the epidemic. but we don't want to see is reinfection from abroad, and we think a sensible

quarantine scheme can help. then an awkward question about who holds the prime minister's attention. you make the dissension about there being a lot of women and enough women. how many is enough? 0h lot of women and enough women. how many is enough? oh boy. that's a question i should it pronounce. is it not 5096. is not a joking matter. pronounce. is it not 5096. is not ajoking matter. it's pronounce. is it not 5096. is not a joking matter. it's not. all i say to that, caroline, it's 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 wa nted again, borisjohnson said he wanted to move on, but even as he was speaking, there were more calls for tory mps to say sorry more calls for tory mps to say soi’i’y “— more calls for tory mps to say sorry —— for dominic cummings to say sorry or quick. even in the prime minister about my own political party, upset has not faded. clearing things up is

not straightforward. number ten believes toughing it out. still in the uk and the health secretary matt hancock has stressed that it is everyone's ‘civic duty‘ to cooperate with the new test and trace scheme set to rollout in england on thursday. the strategy will help health authorities find people who come into close contact with those infected with coronavirus. anyone who tests positive will be contacted by the health service, the nhs, and asked to disclose where they have been and who they have been in contact with. the scheme's aim is to help facilitate a move from a nationwide lockdown, towards more targeted safety measures. 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 modeling hong kong after itself. if the territory loses its preferential status, it will face the same tariffs as mainland china.

0ur 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.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: no luck with the weather for the launch of the first privately—owned spacecraft to the international space station.

this is bbc world news, the latest headlines... the united states registers more than 100,000 deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic. well, let's stay with this now. we can now speak to justin lessler. he's an associate professor of epidemiology at thejohns hopkins bloomberg school of public health. a terrible number for the united states. the peak quiz

i don't think so. i think we will continue to seek cases for a long time in the future. the fa ct of a long time in the future. the fact of the matter is there are still people susceptible for the end —— to the infection in the end —— to the infection in the united states. only places like new york city do i think you have any confidence that they won't see another peak. in what way has this developed into such a huge disaster for the united states? well, i think we have a very big health ca re think we have a very big health care to system in sometimes every locality is making its own decisions, and that's led to a mismatch of policies across the country. some places have but don't done quite well... some places, i got out of control and we don't

know why. new york city's is one of those places. it's responsible for over 50 of these deaths, from new york state. yet so much of the united states is now easing lockdown. what are your fears about a second wave and easing that lockdown to quickly?” think a second wave is com pletely think a second wave is completely possible. as i said, there are plenty of people out there are plenty of people out there who can still be infected, whether it comes in the summer in the fall has a lot to do with the virus. we don't know about the virus being seasonal. in terms of whether or not it's too quickly, i think it's less a matter of how quickly we let out. it's how good our plans are when we lift the lockdown. i heard earlier on your programme, you are talking about the test and trace plans

for the uk. i think that's the same thing we need to be putting more effort in into the united states, and states... how far united states, and states... howfar in united states, and states... how far in are those states on that testing? i think it depends on the states. some states like utah are very, very advanced. 0ther states like utah are very, very advanced. other states i think are way behind. i suppose the problem is what you mentioned at the beginning. there's no united us response to any of this because you have so many different state public health bodies. yeah, i think different state public health bodies. yeah, ithink while there are many advantages to our focus on state power in the united states, sometimes it doesn't serve us well. this may have been one of those cases because it was hard to have a coordinated response across the entire country. but at the same time, it makes us a lab for

different... and maybe we can learn from this and the rest of the world can learn from this. and do better as we face a second or even third wave of this disease. thank you very much indeed forjoining us here on bbc. let's get some of the day's other news. boeing is cutting 12,000 jobs in the us as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the airline industry. the plane—maker says more than half of those are involuntary layoffs. boeing announced in april that it would shed 10% of its workforce by the end of the year to cut costs. thousands of children in the philippines are suffering from "physical, emotional and economic harm" as a result of president rodrigo duterte's war on drugs, according to a report by campaigners human rights watch. based on nearly 50 interviews from across the country, the report also uncovered allegations of bullying and stigmatisation of the relatives of drug war victims, with some forced to live on the streets. the american playwright

and aids activist larry kramer has died at the age of 811. kramer wrote the landmark 1985 play ‘the normal heart‘ about the early days of the epidemic. he helped found the gay men‘s health crisis after a meeting of about 80 people in his apartment in 1982. kramer himself tested hiv—positive in 1989, and suffered liver damage. 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 0‘brien is at cape canaveral with more. 16 minutes and sa seconds to launch, that‘s how close to the wire the decision was, and it all came down to the weather.

it was that final weather briefing where they actually warned of electric field, lightning and anvil clouds and it was decided that the risk was just too great. the safety issues were insurmountable and speaks s, which is controlling the flight, decide to scrub the mission —— spacex. we will be back here on saturday because thatis back here on saturday because that is when the next window for launching is. the bad news is that we‘ve got the same sort of weather on the way, thunderstorms in the afternoon, hot, slightly windy, heavy rain and a 50% chance of likelihood that will happen then. but they could have gone, what, ten minutes later than scheduled ? well, they could have. that would have been the weatherman‘s ideal opportunity. but as the flight director for spacek said, that‘s not our

timeline. the reason for that is because they have to line up with the international space station —— spacex. it has to be ina very station —— spacex. it has to be in a very specific place in orderfor the space in a very specific place in order for the space capsule to actually dock about 90 minutes later. if they miss that, they only have a minute to do that, then the rocket and space capsule bends too long trying to catch up with it, they can‘t dock. that is why they have to keep within this very, very small window and couldn‘t just pushit small window and couldn‘t just push it back and wait for the clouds to pass. i knew you would be able to explain that in 20 seconds. much better than me! there were very special visitors they are today. donald trump there. what about the crowds with social distancing? how many people would watch this? well, there were no crowds. that was the extraordinary thing about it for such a historic launch. president trump even turned up, first time a president witnessed a launch in 1998 with

bill clinton. however, when we we re bill clinton. however, when we were on our way to the kennedy space centre, we did see tonnes of people just lining the road, trying to be on the beach to catch a glimpse of this. there was much social distancing going on and nasa did ask people to watch this online. the good news for the crowd 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. before we go —— i always thought the prospect of finding treasure hidden in the garden was an exciting one. so imagine how one group of surveyors felt about coming across a roman mosaic floor, concealed under an italian vineya rd. after decades of searching —— experts in verona finally unearthed the well—preserved tiles buried under tonnes

of earth. 0n on that positive note from me and the team, bye—bye. they‘re 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 southeast england has been spreading into wales, southwest 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 is going to get a little bit fresher with temperatures coming down just a few degrees, but still warm. we‘ll take a look at why. 0n the satellite picture, we have this cloud working into northern scotland and bring 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 southeast england and ultimately will

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

25 or so in the glasgow area. how is the weekend shaking up? the area of high pressure is still in charge, still keeping these atlantic weather fronts at bay, that means we have more of the same. that said, it will turn breezy for some of us but nevertheless, we do have more of that warm sunshine to come. temperatures in glasgow peeking around 26 celsius and it‘s going 23, 2a through the weekend and further south, we will see temperatures in the mid—20s. some of the warmest weather in cardiff, 27 on saturday. that is your weather.

this is bbc 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.