welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: the death toll in the united states from the pandemic has now officially passed 100,000. minority groups have been worst affected. we have a special report from the east end of london, and its large south asian community. president trump says he's asked the fbi and department ofjustice to investigate the death of george floyd in police custody in minneapolis. and no luck with the weather for the launch of the first privately—owned spacecraft to the international space station.

hello to you. the number of people who have died from covid—19 in the united states has now officially exceeded 100,000. the actual numbers are likely to be higher than that, but it is clear that in the past three months more americans have died from infection than during the korean war, the vietnam war and the conflict in iraq combined. but the number of new cases has slowed and more states are lifting their lockdowns to ease the economic impact. 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. and 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 first of march. as somebody who lost someone so close to them and was 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. 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 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, in washington. the bbc‘s david willis told me the numbers are very likely to be an underestimate. the united states now is firmly established as the epicentre of this global pandemic. and 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 unaffected by this. the situation has disproportionately affected african—americans, we know, and also about a third of those

deaths have been in nursing homes. now unsurprisingly, perhaps, donald trump decided to go to florida today in search of a slightly better headline or a distractionary headline from this rather grim news. but that 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—plus deaths here. and it does seem, to be blunt about it, a lot of people have reached the conclusion this disease that disproportionately affects black people, elderly people, people who are obese or people who are poor. and if you're not in that bracket, people decided not to be too worried about it? absolutely. and indeed there are some states, mike, that are saying they are still not able to fully test in the way they would like to. i mean, we've seen a decrease in some of the hardest—hit states such as new york, but there are still 20 others or so that last week were reporting a rise in the number

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 and others have contended that if prudent measures such as a continuation of the social distancing, the wearing of face masks and so on are not adhered to, there could a another spike, come the autumn, wintertime. david willis for us there. across europe, life for many is gradually returning to normal, as countries ease restrictions on movement, in place in some areas for almost three months. rich preston has this look at a continent coming out of lockdown. in italy, a visit after an intense lockdown. this stands for so much. translation: a misted a lot, especially from this ice—cream

shop. i think it's one of the best you can find in rome. just a few months ago, the words focus was on italy of the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. now with its infection rate slowing by the day, the lives of italians are being allowed to return to normal. translation: we have been coming since day one of the reopening. we have been passing every day to check out if it was open. we have literally circled it. when coronavirus first hit switzerland, the country's military reserves we re country's military reserves were called to action, supporting hospitals and emergency services to contain the pandemic. now a demobilisation ceremony. these soldiers are being stood down with the situation deemed under control, they can now return to civilian life. for many countries, the worry now is over the long—term impact of the virus, particularly on essential tourism industries. cyprus has taken a novel approach to try to win back businesses, it has promised to

cover the costs of the holiday as well as the medical treatment of anyone who involves deal with the virus after visiting the island. they measure it hopes will reassure potential visitors a trip to cyprus is safe from both a health and financial point of view. 0n health and financial point of view. on tuesday, the european commission announced plans for an $825 billion fund to help countries whose economies have been hit by the pandemic. not all member states agree on the method of this kind of financial rescue, but if you disagree with its motive. after asia, europe was the heart of the coronavirus pandemic. now as other regions see their death tolls continue to rise, the sides of italians eating ice—cream or the swiss army standing down may provide a glimmer of hope for the future. the governments around the world a re clear the governments around the world are clear the fight against the virus is not over. rich preston, bbc news. a little later in the bulletin we'll speak to eric dungan, a military social worker

who was deployed to a new york hospital to help deal with the crisis. in other news: 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 in the street by his neck — 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. this is the live shot at the moment from minneapolis with protest under way on the street. there are no reports of violence, there had been some violence, there had been some violence more recently. jeremiah ellison is a minneapolis city councillor and he joins us from there now. good to talk to you. i know you're in the north of the city and george floyd died in the south. i think you were motivated to run for office by another death in custody in 2015? yeah. it was the death of

jeremiah clark. what are you making of what happened to george floyd? it's a tragic situation. i don't know if you have watched the video, if people are sparing themselves, i think that's ok. it's a pretty horrific video, it's ha rd to pretty horrific video, it's hard to watch and he slowly dies over the course of those eight or nine minutes. so it feels senseless and infuriating. and chokehold is in fact infuriating. and chokehold is infactare infuriating. and chokehold is in fact are banned in minneapolis? but it is all right for officers to kneel on a suspect‘s neck? right for officers to kneel on a suspect's neck? i'm not clear on whether we train our offices to use that manoeuvre. i was under the impression we didn't train officer is to use that manoeuvre. but george floyd met it very clear he was under a tremendous amount of distress and the fact his life was not taken seriously by the officers

is just unforgivable. taken seriously by the officers isjust unforgivable. and that phrase of course, that is so well—known, "i can't read." was how to many times. yeah, yeah, it was. you know me, it's unusualfor it was. you know me, it's unusual for police officers to face much action when such incidents happen. the mayor has called for the four officers to be sacked. what are the chances of that? i think in the video you see a blatant disregard for human life. the, you know, you see other officers acting as accomplices there and ucb officer who committed the act pretty unapologetic —— you see the officer being pretty unapologetic and almost gleeful about what he's doing. this isn't a case ofjust negligent homicide, somebody made a mistake in theirjob, they were very proactive in causing this

outcome. jeremiah, people are protesting on the streets as you know. we have those dots, of course. what are you hearing from people on the streets? what are they hoping for from this? i think people are in disbelief of the manner of george floyd's death stop i think people want to know that the police are not some especially protected class. when the police participate in criminal actions, there should be criminal consequences but there is doubt about that happening. i think our response to the community that is grieving and hurt and frightened by the police doesn't really help matters either. i think we have taken the route of inciting the crowd, i have called for the city to develop a different strategy but that has only fallen on deaf ears, to my frustration. and i think we can expect community members to

continue to express themselves in this way. however unproductive we may deem it. if we don't rapidly change our reproach and our response. we don't rapidly change our reproach and our responsem looks like from the pictures there is quite a confrontation going on there. what do you think of the way the police are dealing with the protest? we a lwa ys dealing with the protest? we always is a city, even before my time here, have responded to protest this way. you know, look, if our goal was to prevent property damage, we're not doing that. if our goal was to prevent the spread of infectious disease, we have no way of doing that. if our goal was to make sure protesters we re was to make sure protesters were not harmed, we are doing that, and if our goal was to make sure we are putting officers in palm's way, we aren't really doing that either. so someone is going to have to answer to me and tell me what are we trying to accomplish aside from chaos? because i'm not seeing it. city councillorjeremiah because i'm not seeing it. city councillor jeremiah ellison, thank you so much for talking

to us. thank you so much. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has told congress that hong kong no longer qualifies for special us trade status because it says 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. robin brant for us there. 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. 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 passed 100,000. president trump says he's asked the fbi and department

ofjustice to investigate the death in minneapolis of a black man who died in police custody. his in police custody. name was george floyd. let's get more on our top story: the us has surpassed 100,000 deaths related to covid—19. we can now to eric dungan, a military social worker who was deployed to a new york hospital to deal with the coronavirus crisis. captain, thank you very much fought all with us. i know you're working in the area of new york city worst hit, in fa ct? new york city worst hit, in fact? yes, sir, thank you for having me. it's an honour to be here and i appreciate the opportunity. very glad to talk to you and talk about the work you're doing. this is a very toughjob, isn't you're doing. this is a very tough job, isn't it? you're doing. this is a very toughjob, isn't it? yellow it's definitely a tough job, the hospital staff and medical staff at jacoby medical centre in new york where currently helping out, the people in the

hospital have been amazing to us, very supportive, i'm the new guy at our unit, the 452, it's been tough and we've seen a lot of things that are kind of like an overload on the brain. but it's an honour to be wearing this uniform and helping this city ravaged with the spirit of new york, although definitely hit very hard, the city is amazing and the people are amazing here. lot of people i think will have been touched by the story published recently about what you're dealing with and what you're dealing with and what you did for the second world war vetera n you did for the second world war veteran george crouch. can you tell us more about that? sergeant crouch is a world war ii veteran. he was in okinawa, where he was injured, and he also was called up to go to the korean war. he came to the hospital with his wife at the same time, they both were admitted at the same time, they shared a hospital room.

u nfortu nately, shared a hospital room. unfortunately, gail passed and succumbed to the disease. mr crouch was definitely devastated by that news. i got a mental health consult to him for the first time, i think it was made the first. so i got to meet him to do a consult for mental health and we kind of felt from their relationship and a friendship really, and i admire him. to me, he's a national treasure as a world war ii veteran, and he's proven that with hope, anything can happen. and i think people lost hope for a while. and i think all the medical staff allowed him to get the hope back and he found a reason to go towards the positive. he's in the rehab centre and i'm still in contact with him and he's doing great. that's wonderful to hear but i guess for people who don't fool, even tougherjob for you. your at the side of people who may well be dying, who may well

be very lonely because their families can't get to them, who may be very frightened. this is a grim, grim disease. it is, it isa a grim, grim disease. it is, it is a very grim disease and there are people who have, many people i've been with, who have u nfortu nately people i've been with, who have unfortunately passed. up until that point, i do my best as a clinical social worker representing jacoby medical centre from the united states army, 452, to be there for them. i hate to see people suffering or scared and sometimes coming in and holding my hand and trying to do something to help distract the imminent situation, or the fight they're going through, my goal is to hopefully have them on the other side with the positive and they can get through. unfortunately you can't say you win everything, but you try your best because of the human spirit. you just believe in it and you believe in people. people are, to me,

just amazing and i enjoy and feel so blessed that i get to try to help anybody in any situation. thanks so much for giving us some of your time. thank you, sir. it was a nail—biter of a decision. 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 longful return to space flight from american soil will have to wait. for years, space shuttles took americans into orbit, but they became too expensive. mission control: and lift-off, a final of atlantis.

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. let's go further and, of course, the ultimate destination has to be mars. mission control: countdown, clear, go for launch. this is how it was meant to look. a smooth ride to the international space station, at the weather was against it this time, and the next chance is saturday. david shukman, bbc news.

we will keep an eye on that live on saturday. thank you for watching. 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, 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 most and a fresher feel to the weather across some of these eastern areas of scotland and eastern areas of england as that 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. it 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 24 for western counties 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 very 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's the weekend shaping up? 0ur area of high pressure is still in charge, still keeping these atlantic weather fronts at bay, and that means we've got 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 24 celsius. enneskillen, 23, maybe a 24 through the weekend and further south, quite widely we'll see temperatures in the mid—20s. some of the warmest weather in cardiff, 27 on saturday. that's your weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines: a terrible milestone, more than 100,000 people have now died from coronavirus in the united states. that's according to official figures, the real number will be much more. 100,000 is more than the combined total of deaths from the korean, vietnam and iraq conflicts. 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 its autonomy. the territory's position as a global hub is now in question. 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.