century ago and more than a century ago and technicians are excavating the site to see the full extent of the ancient building. state as safe as you can. thank you very much for watching —— stay as safe as you can. this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk hello again. wednesday brought us more and around the world. sunshine across the country. the highest the death toll in the united temperature was again states due to the coronavirus around the greater london area, this time in heathrow, 26 celsius. pandemic has now and a bit further passed 100,000. north in suffolk, minority groups have that's how we ended the day. been worse affected. now over recent days, we have a special report the warmth that has mainly been concentrated from the east end of london, across southeast which its large england has been spreading into wales, southwest england, and for thursday the heat is more widespread across the uk. south asian community. so most areas will have warmer weather, one exception really, as protests continue east anglia and south east england where it is going in hong kong, the us secretary to get a little bit fresher with of state says temperatures coming the territory no longer merits down just a few degrees, special status because china but still warm. is stripping it of autonomy. we'll take a look at why. and no luck with the weather 0n the satellite picture, for the launch of the first we have this cloud working into northern privately—owned spacecraft scotland and bring a bit of rain. to the international space station. 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. hello and welcome to audiences this is how the weather looks in the uk and around the world. at the moment, though. cloudy for northern scotland, the number of people still got some rain around who have died from covid—19 at the moment but it will tend in the united states has now officially exceeded 100,000. to ease over the coming hours. elsewhere it's a largely dry the numbers may well picture, a little bit of low be higher than that, cloud, a lot of mist but it is clear that and fog patch in the past three months towards coastal areas more americans have died from infection than during of lincolnshire. the korean war, the vietnam war and the conflict in but otherwise, clear spells iraq combined. for most and a fresher feel but the number of new cases has to the weather slowed and more states across some of these are lifting their lockdowns eastern areas of scotland to ease the economic impact. and eastern areas of england, as that cooler air works in. 0ur north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, reports from washington. for thursday, # happy birthday to you... most of us will have sunshine from dawn till dusk. any low cloud and mist clearing away very quickly. and the rain also friends and relatives of more than 100,000 people in america clearing from northern scotland. can nowjust cling to it should brighten up the memories of happier times in the northern isles later in the day. before the coronavirus. a warmer day for most then. 23 degrees or so in edinburgh. probably about 23 or 2a for western counties of northern ireland. my father was a really but cooler in london — caring person. instead of around 26 or 27 it has been over recent days, it will be about 22. he just wanted to help people and he was really outgoing. still warm in the sunshine and more of the same to come on friday. he thought he was really funny.

most of us will have sunshine from dawn till dusk again doug was one of the first with very little confirmed deaths back in the way of cloud. on the first of march. highest temperatures always likely across more northern and western areas of the uk, 25 or so in the glasgow area. how's the weekend shaking up? as somebody who lost 0ur area of high pressure is still in charge, someone so close to them still keeping these atlantic weather fronts and was someone obviously very, at bay, and that means very dear to you so early we have more of the same. on, when you saw the way this that said, it will turn breezy for some of us was going in the country, how has it made you feel over but nevertheless, we do have more of that warm the last couple months? sunshine to come. it's scary. it's sad. temperatures in glasgow peeking i feel angry. around 2a celsius and it's we should have been going 23, 2a through listening to the doctors the weekend and further and the scientists. we should not have been south, we will see listening to people talking about the stock market. temperatures in the mid—20s. it's natural that people are reaching for answers, some of the warmest weather in cardiff, 27 on saturday. for someone to be accountable that is your weather. after scenes like mass graves being dug in new york and refrigerated trucks lining up to receive the dead once the morgues were full. i'll see you saturday. 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's a lot of pain and grief. some of us in the black community are very concerned that as the narrative became that african—america ns 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. well, 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 this is bbc news. to the stories of those lost the headlines: would take many lifetimes. a terrible milestone — for people left behind, more than 100,000 people have now died from coronavirus the question lingers, in the united states — that's more than the combined total could more have been done of deaths from the korean, so these americans and tens vietnam and iraq conflicts. of thousands of others might still be around? aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. well, let's take a look at how those are the official figures, but the us got to this point. the real total is likely to be much the first death in the country more. was reported on february as protests rumble on in hong kong, the 29th. on march the 13th, the us secretary of state mike president trump declared pompeo says the territory no longer a national emergency as states across the us announced school closures. merits special status under american within ten days, stay—at—home law, because he says china orders had been issued is stripping it of its autonomy. in the three—worst affected states: california, new york and washington. the position of the global hub is by april the 12th, the us now in question. surpassed italy, withjust over 20,000 fatalities, reaching and the first private sector mission the highest death rate to the international space station in the world. and the first crewed launch from us soil in nine years has been a few days later, president trump released his guidelines postponed due to bad weather. it's now thought that the spacex for reopening the country, as anti—lockdown protests took place in some states. rocket will be launched on saturday.

on may the sixth, the president announced that his coronavirus task force would continue indefinitely, just a day after saying it would close. by this point the number of deaths across the country stood at 71,000 people. and now, just three months on from the first death, the us has reached 100,000 deaths officially. the bbc‘s david willis joins me from la. it's likely these official figures are in under estimate? absolutely. all of the public health officials have warned thatis health officials have warned that is the case and these figures may not of course have taken in those who died in their homes or before there was any sort of testing, really, for covid-19. but the united states now is firmly established as the epicentre of this global pandemic. what this means is on this global pandemic. what this means is on average this global pandemic. what this means is on average about 900 americans a day have been dying from the coronavirus and not a

single state has been left u naffected single state has been left unaffected by this. the situation has disproportionately affected african—americans, and we know about a third of those deaths have been in nursing homes. unsurprisingly, perhaps, donald trump decided to go to florida today in search of a slightly better headline or a distraction from these rather grim news. but the launch of the first nasa astronauts into orbit in nearly a decade was postponed. so he was denied that headline and he has made no comment so far anyway on that rather grim milestone of 100,000 deaths or more. and to be blunt about it, a lot of people reach the conclusion this disease disproportionately affects black people, elderly people, people who are obese or poon people, people who are obese or poor. and people not in that bracket seem not to be too worried about it? there are some states that are saying

they are still not able to fully test in the way they would like to. we have seen a decrease in some of the hardest—hit state such as new york, but there are still 20 others also that last week were reporting a rise in the number of coronavirus cases. all that ata time of coronavirus cases. all that at a time when every state in this nation is slowly but surely starting to reopen its economy in line with the president's wishes. and we were mentioning earlier on that anthony fauci, this country's top infectious diseases expert, contended if prudent measures asa contended if prudent measures as a continuation of social distancing, wearing face masks and so on, if they are not to there could a another spike in there could a another spike in the autumn and wintertime. david, thank you very much for that. a little later in the bulletin we'll speak to dr leana wen. she's an emergency physician and public health professor at the george washington university. president trump has tweeted that he's asked

the fbi and department ofjustice to investigate the death in minneapolis of a black man who died in police custody. the family of george floyd, who died after he was arrested and pinned down by his neck for some time, have called for the minneapolis police officers involved to be charged with murder. there have been large protests in the city over the incident. the minneapolis mayor jacob frey has also urged prosecutors to arrest and charge the white police officers. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has told congress that hong kong no longer qualifies for special american 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. 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, that 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 in the last few hours 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's 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. 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 lay—offs. boeing announced in april

that it would shed 10% of its workforce by the end of the year to cut costs. the chief financial officer of chinese tech company huawei has lost a key ruling in the trial over her extradition to the united states. meng wanzhou was arrested in canada in late 2018. the us wants her to stand trial on charges including fraud linked to the alleged violation of us sanctions against iran. ms meng denies any wrongdoing, as does huawei. the american playwright and aids activist larry kramer has died at the age of 8a. 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. 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. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletics events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started forming at 7:00am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot, as the liverpool fans broke out of their area and into the juve ntus enclosure. the belgian police had lost control. the whole world will mourn the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 4,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as 'ginger spice,‘ has announced she has left the spice girls. argh, i don't believe it. she's the one with the bounce, the go, girl power. not geri, why?

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the death toll in the united states due to the coronavirus pandemic has now officially passed 100,000. president trump says he's asked the fbi and department ofjustice to investigate the death in minneapolis — of george floyd — who died in police custody. we can now speak to dr leana wen. she's an emergency physician and public health professor at the george washington university and she previously served as baltimore's health commissioner. thank you very much for talking to us. what do you make of these figures? first of all, do you think the pandemic has peaked? you think the pandemic has peaked ? was that you think the pandemic has peaked? was that these official figures are possibly an

underestimate? almost certainly these figures are an underestimate. we know when coronavirus first hit the us, we we re coronavirus first hit the us, we were not doing enough testing. and it also hit during the peak of the flu season, so there may be many doubts that we re there may be many doubts that were attributed to the flu or other viral syndromes that could be from covid—19. i do not believe we have hit the peak. how states are reopening against public health guidance and without having proper capabilities in place like testing, tracing and isolation, we will certainly see many more cases. now, the question is how many more will we see? and will we have the surveillance capability and the ability to rein in those infections so we can rein in those infections so we ca n p reve nt rein in those infections so we can prevent the next 100,000 deaths from occurring? and given the way the pandemic has been handled so far, what you think the answers are to those questions? what is the chance of having a lot of that in place? really worry. you could say at the beginning of the

pandemic that we don't know about the importance of widespread testing but we've known about this for at least two months and we still don't have a co—ordinated national strategy in the us. we still don't have a national plan even for things like procuring supplies. we run the risk of running out of masks and gowns and the personal protective equipment for our healthcare workers if we see surge happening again, and i also think americans are misunderstanding what reopening means. in the last weekend we've seen people up and about doing normal activities as if nothing has happened, and that really concerns me because we could well see multiple spikes of outbreaks all over the country, just as we saw in the new york area and other parts of the world. globally it is clearly affecting a lot of people's attitude to the pandemic, but the pandemic strikes populations disproportionately. some people feel they're really not at risk. well, they are wrong, because we can look at the numbers and

we can look at the numbers and we can look at the numbers and we can also look at case reports. now we're seeing this rare but very serious syndrome affecting children that's landing them in the intensive—care unit, landing them in the intensive—ca re unit, they‘ re developing toxic and multiorgan failure and even dying. we're seeing otherwise healthy people in their 30s seeing otherwise healthy people in their30s and seeing otherwise healthy people in their 30s and 40s get strokes be debilitated for life. it is true this affects disproportionately those who are older with chronic medical conditions, but no—one is immune. we should be protecting the most vulnerable but also look out for ourselves, our loved ones and in so doing, protect everyone else around us too. leana wen, thanks very much. thank you. minority groups continue to be disproportionately affected by the pandemic. in the east end of london, whch has a large south asian community, the bbc‘s clive myrie has spent time with those serving on the frontline. in his latest report from the royal london hospital, he looks at those doing their best to treat both body and soul. it's hard to comprehend how historic these times are when you're living them.

it's distance that will aid clarity. the lives and jobs lost because of coronavirus are destined to become chapter headings, not footnotes, in the public record. and in one corner of the east end, the work of a tiny morgue will become part of london's narrative. all the communities here have been hit by the coronavirus. but this place, up and running in a matter of days, serves the desperate burial needs of the muslim asian community hit hardest by the disease. some of the victims come from the nearby royal london hospital, having prayed much of their lives in the east london mosque. the leadership of the east london mosque felt it had a duty to intervene when muslim

dead began to pile up. it's beyond, really, comprehension. you know, people would have this guilt inside the family and the community that we couldn't do the right thing for our deceased. it's often when we feel helpless that some turn to faith. while the royal london may be one of the leading teaching hospitals in the world, there's always a little corner for what's important. the muslim chaplain here is imam faruq siddiqi. and he's proud of the royal london's links to one of the biggest muslim communities in britain. he's about to see a patient whose underlying health conditions were complicated by covid—19. we were given permission to film. she's clinging on to life, but has refused any final medical intervention to save her, when eventually the time comes.

meanwhile, death appears two floors above, on the coronavirus wards. it's been a difficult night for the team here. they lost four patients. every one, a tragedy. and at the height of the pandemic, on one night, 11 people died. now this is one of the vacant, empty beds left behind. we'd seen how medics battled to save the life of one man... go, go, go. ready, steady, go. ..ravaged by covid—19. and sister becky smith told as a heartbreaking verdict loomed. obviously we'll make a decision about whether it's appropriate to continue with what we're doing at the moment, or whether we should give him a bit of dignity. the patient‘s name was

krishnapillai yogan, and the decision was made to stop his life—saving drugs. a white partition was placed around his bed, and becky's face was the last one he saw. take us into the cubicle at that moment. just sat on a chair and just held his hand, to be with him in that time. it was a very quick experience, in that way. we give the patient a full wash together, so two nurses will always give them a warm wash. put them in some new clothes, so they can be sent away with a lot of dignity and respect for their body and for their life. do you take any of this home? i think, in these current times, with covid, it's a lot harder to separate things. because you feel like it could be your dad, it could be your mum, because it's so close to home for everybody

in the world at the moment. it's difficult, because it's happening every day. so, you do definitely take it home. we'd all like to leave behind more than an empty bed. for the shadow we cast to be benign. but those who chronicle this time of coronavirus will record that this hospital and the community it served tried to work together, to leave a legacy of which both could be proud. the latest in our special reports this week on the impact of the pandemic in one part of east london, as witnessed by clive myrie, producer sam piranty and camera operator david mcilveen. the uk's health secretary, matt hancock, has stressed that it's everyone's civic duty to co—operate with the new test and trace scheme set to roll out in england in the coming hours. the strategy will help health authorities find people who come into close contact with those infected. 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 aim is to help facilitate a move from a nationwide lockdown towards more targeted safety measures. premier league clubs have voted unanimously to resume contact training. from thursday players will be able to tackle during practice. a further four premier league players and staff have tested positive for coronavirus. discussions continue on when the season may resume. 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 into orbit, bound for the international space station. but mother nature had other plans, as science editor david shukman reports. heavy cloud over the launch pads, the weather ominous for this new era in space.

two astronauts, doug hurley and bob behnken, getting ready. veterans with nasa, but now in the flashy suits of a private company, spacex. wishing them well, from a careful distance, the head of nasa and the founder of spacex, elon musk. he's worked for this moment for years. well, this is the culmination of a dream. this is a dream come true. in fact, it feels surreal. if you'd asked me when starting spacex if this would happen, i'd be, like, 1%, 0.1% chance. then, a farewell for two remarkable families. both men are married to fellow astronauts. they all know what's at stake. to get to the rocket, electric cars. teslas, also made by elon musk. a new look for everything. soon, both men were inside, getting connected to the high—tech controls. the weather, looking better. so the countdown began. then came another forecast, and the whole thing was brought to a dramatic halt.

we continue to violate a couple of different weather rules that we now do not expect to clear in time to allow for launch today. the long—planned return to space flight from american soil will have to wait. for years, space shuttle struck americans into orbit, but they became too expensive. so, russian rockets were used instead, and they were the only way for americans to reach space. until now. now, this is a prototype of the dragon capsule. back in 2011, i was allowed into a spacex capsule. it's all about finding cheaper ways of getting into orbit, and freeing up nasa to go further. nasa said, basically, "we'll give you the money and you give us the space flight." and then that releases nasa to use its resources to do other things. and that's how we can start really thinking big. and instead of spending all the time, the effort, resources on something that

we've done for many years, going into low earth orbit, doing experiments, let's think bigger.